Vikings in America

by Graeme Davis

Discover the evidence that Vikings walked on American soil—centuries before Columbus.   When Columbus claimed to have discovered America in 1492 and the Borgia pope declared it a New World for Catholic Spain, the Vatican started a five-hundred-year conspiracy to conceal the true story of Viking America.   In this groundbreaking new work by the author of The Early English Settlement of Orkney and Shetland, the true extent of the Viking discovery and colonization of the eastern seaboard of North America is fully examined, taking into account the new archaeological, linguistic, and DNA evidence that supplements the historic account. For four centuries or more, from their first visits around AD 1000 to the eve of the Columbus voyages, the Vikings explored and settled thousands of miles of the coasts and rivers of North America. From New York’s Long Island to the Canadian High Arctic, the New World was a playground for Viking adventurers. And, he argues, the name the Vikings gave to this New World was America.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Audiobook

333 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

Dr. Graeme J. Davis (born 1965) is an English linguist at the University of Buckingham. He holds a PhD in Anglo-Saxon from the University of St Andrews. He has lectured at the Manchester Metropolitan University, University of Northumbria and the Open University.

He is tutor for the University of Buckingham’s Stonehenge MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) and is editor of The Buckingham Journal of Language and Linguistics, which has developed from earlier journals edited by Dr. Davis, including Journal of Language and Linguistics and Lingua et Linguistica. He is series editor of two Peter Lang monograph series, Contemporary Studies in Descriptive Linguistics and Studies in Historical Linguistics. He is also academic advisor to the Fara Heim project for academic research around the history and archaeology of Hudson Bay and the Canadian Arctic.

His research interests include the mediaeval Germanic languages and cultures of the North Atlantic region. His book Contemporary Studies in Old English and Old Icelandic was supported by a British Academy research grant and by the University of Iceland. The Early English Settlement of Orkney and Shetland examines the cultural and linguistic background of the Northern Isles, while Vikings in America sets out the story of the Norse discovery and settlement of North America. Lexicographic work includes Dictionary of Surrey English, while the discipline of surname study has been developed in Research Your Surname and Your Family Tree. An author of more than two dozen books and dozens of articles, Dr. Davis has produced both primary research and popular accounts which seek to make scholarship accessible to a wide audience.

Reviews

[Michael Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Half a century ago, in They All Discovered America, Michael Boland identified what he called the “NEBC Principle” -- “No Europeans Before Columbus.” This is the general attitude of most professional academic historians and they tend to condemn any contrary discussion without even considering the alternatives. Boland went somewhat overboard, but since the discovery and excavation of L’Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland by Helge Ingstad in the early 1960s, there has been no question that the Norse were present at least on the coast of North America -- and in surprisingly large numbers.

Davis follows the “baby steps” approach, from Norway to Iceland to Greenland to the western continent, which hardly requires that one sail out of sight of land. He examines apparent artifacts found in the Canadian Arctic as well as reconsidering Yale’s “Vinland Map” (which caused riots in New Haven among Hispanics and Italians when it was unveiled), the Kensington Rune Stone (usually dismissed out of hand on the grounds that it must not be real because it couldn’t be real), an assortment of Norse coins that have turned up over the years (“obvious plants or fakes,” is the default judgment), and quite a few other types of putative evidence that significant parts of the eastern U.S. and Canada were at least visited and partly explored if not colonized several centuries before Columbus sailed.

The author is a “believer,” but not a naïve or uncritical one. There certainly have been fakes and plants and misunderstandings, of which the Newport Tower and “Pattee’s Caves” are the most likely, but there are plenty of other sites and artifacts worthy of consideration. His careful approach and smooth style make this a useful update to the subject.

[Aaron Meyer · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent look at the history of the Greenland Vikings and the possible evidence of their presence in America. There is alot of newer finds that I was not aware of in the High Arctic which he talks about, which is exciting because if we are able someday to get more archaeological digs up there we may find alot more evidence of their being there. His explanation of the Kensington Runestone is interesting and linking it to an expedition that was sent out at the same time from Europe I think gives an aura of truth to the whole thing. I just wish that academia would stop being so dismissive of the Vikings and their achievements and be more open to their being in America long before Columbus for centuries uninterrupted.

[Carter · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you think Columbus was first you're absolutely wrong. If you though that one little trip to Newfoundland was the extent of the Viking visitations to North America you're going to be quite surprised as this book outlines the true scope of Viking exploration in the new world.

[Speesh · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've cobbled together a review of sorts here: http://speesh.wordpress.com/2010/07/3...
In short - excellent book, really readable and thought provoking.

[Trebor · Rating 4 out of 5]

So much of history is tainted with bias information and mythology that it can be hard to tear yourself away from what had been pounded into your brain. It made perfect sense to me that the Nordic people (Vikings) had expanded throughout the known and unknown world. An ingenious hardy people with developed wood working skills were able to build beautiful, sturdy, seaworthy boats using less resources with fewer tools. Their curiosity and search for wealth and betterment sent them in all directions. They navigated up rivers, streams into the heart of Europe, why not North America. They traveled light and left little behind, and so little evidence is left to study. By reason alone and track record their presence in America can surely be acknowledged. This book explores facts and archaeological footprints to support his conclusions. An interesting and enlightening read.

[Dean McIntyre · Rating 4 out of 5]

Many of us were taught in school that Columbus discovered America and the New World in 1492. Graeme Davis explodes the "Columbus Myth," setting out the evidence and proof that the first Europeans in the New World were Vikings, arriving some hundreds of years ahead of Columbus. Detailing archaeological, linguistic, and DNA evidence, Davis shows how the Vikings traveled from Northern Europe to Iceland, on to Greenland, to the Canadian High Arctic, Hudson Bay areas, Newfoundland, even to the East coast of America and and the midwest of America. It's a fascinating tale. Four out of five stars.

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you know nothing of recent historical and archeological findings this book is a good place to start. (Does anyone NOT think the Vikings settled in America?) Having said that the book stylistically is not a great read. And some of it reads like an academic with a bee in his bonnet. He missed some evidence the Gudred saga. He speculates about a number of things.

Having said that, if you are curious about Vikings in America it's a decent place to start. And it comes complete with novel theory of the etymology of the word 'America.'

[Suzanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very eye opening!

I loved this book. As a person of Cuban heritage, I was taught by my family not school that Christopher Columbus was a butcher and did not discover America, but the Bahamas, Cuba and Espaniola ( which is now the Dominican republic and Haiti). While I was reading this book, I looked at maps online, architecture, and It was only natural for them to have settlements in the islands off the coast of Canada and mainland America they left archeological proof.

[Wendell H Howell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Educational

Well written with good flow. Wider coverage than I expected. I read a now long forgotten book that included blond haired Indians in, I think, Minnesota. Not so according this author.

[W. RON SUTTON · Rating 5 out of 5]

Viking heritage analysis pointing to America

Scholarly review of other scholarship was easy to read and to follow. The reader, unskilled in the many fields required to factually evaluate the book, nevertheless understood and appreciated the review.

[Mattaniah Gibson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic read, this connecting of the dots makes the saga of Vikings in America more relevant personally. Love the willingness to challenge stodgy historians on their nonsense too

[Marie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well written, but not quite what I was expecting. I made it halfway through but didn't finish.

[Carell · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had thought I was Irish growing up and was surprised to find out I was Norse (last name Rhyason is typical of this culture). According to this book, Dublin was controlled by the Norse. Although this was a research book, I found it a fascinating wealth of information. My ancestors were called Norsemen because they were from the north, but they were also called Vikings, since their farm homes for about 30 extended family was called a Vik and those that traveled from it were called Vikings.

The creation of boats made from a strong oak central Keel and metal rivets to hold parts together, gave the Vikings one of the most maneuverable ships, allowing them to travel from one landmark island to another until they had travelled as far as Iceland, Greenland, Newfoundland, Hudson Bay and likely Minnesota and Rhode Island. Although the Vikings didn't use navigational tools, they had clever methods to find land. All these migrations of Vikings were from 1000 to 1400 AD.....long before Columbus "discovered America" .

While Vikings in Iceland pursued their early democracy and equality, grew larger by 2" than their ancestors in Norseland, and created an enlightened society while the rest of Europe struggled under the controls of the Church and Rulers.

[John-Alan · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting book shedding new light on the Viking presence in Greenland and North America. Unfortunately it is marred by Davis' refusal to provide more than the barest minimum of sources for many of his claims. Davis provides the weak excuse that this book meant for a general audience, but even so he asks us to take his word for far too much. This becomes especially problematic when the first sources that can independently be found for some of Davis' claims flat-out contradict what he says. For example Davis claims (without providing a citation) that a written record exists of the meeting between Gudrun the Far-Travelled and the Pope; a claim for which I can't find any corroboration online and which is even flat-out contradicted by Wikipedia.
Although Davis points out many things that are possible, that does not mean that they indeed happened. Still, for the critical reader who is able to pierce Davis' over-enthusiastic interpretation of the scant evidence, the book provides a very interesting overview of a little known piece of history.

[Birgitta Hoffmann · Rating 3 out of 5]

interesting and thought provoking read on the possibilities of finding Viking evidence in Scotland. First published in 2009, it does not mention the new possible possible contact site on Baffin Island, as excavated by Patricia Sutherland and the occasionally sensationalist style can be distracting. Still, an interesting book on the state of the research.

[Nadia Land-Greene · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read over several months between other books. Well researched look at a part of history often neglected. Interesting part about how the Vatican helped spread and support the myth that "Columbus discovered America"!

[Foggygirl · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very interesting read. A good edition to any history buff's library.

[Tree · Rating 4 out of 5]

Scholarly but not uniformly dessicated, this volume provides a welcome batch of information.