The Greenlanders

[Motörhead Remember Me]

History of Greenland (http://http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Greenland)
To Europeans, Greenland was unknown until the 10th century, when Icelandic Vikings settled on the southwestern coast. This part of Greenland was apparently unpopulated at the time when the Vikings arrived; the direct ancestors of the modern Inuit Greenlanders are not thought to have arrived until around AD 1200 from the northwest. The Norse settlements along the southwestern coast eventually disappeared after about 500 years. The Inuit thrived in the icy world of the Little Ice Age and were the only inhabitants of the island for several centuries. Denmark-Norway nonetheless claimed the territory, and, after centuries of no contact between the Norse Greenlanders and their Scandinavian brethren, it was feared that the Greenlanders had lapsed back into paganism; so a missionary expedition was sent out to reinstate Christianity in 1721. However, since none of the lost Norse Greenlanders were found, Denmark-Norway instead proceeded to baptize the local Inuit Greenlanders and develop trading colonies along the coast as part of its aspirations as a colonial power. Colonial privileges were retained, such as trade monopoly.

Greenlandic Vikings, Past And Present (http://www.rudyfoto.com/grl/greenlandvikings.html)

In 982 A.D., the famous Viking explorer Erikur Raude (Erik the Red) found himself in trouble, again. Already banished from his native Norway for carrying a blood feud to its violent extremes, he was labled an outlaw by Icelandic authorities for avenging the death of two of his servants in true Viking style. So, Erik set sail from his newly adopted home and headed west to what's known today as Greenland. The land was already discovered by earlier adventurers, and stories of their voyages undoubtedly were circulated in the western fjords of Iceland, where Erik made his home. Erik also found a willing crew, as Iceland was gripped by famine, and young men like Erik were unable to secure choice land in the new Atlantic colony.


The Fate of Greenland's Vikings (http://www.archaeology.org/online/features/greenland/)



Of the first 24 boatloads of land-hungry settlers who set out from Iceland in the summer of 986 to colonize new territory explored several years earlier by the vagabond and outlaw, Erik the Red, only 14 made it, the others having been forced back to port or lost at sea. Yet more brave souls, drawn by the promise of a better life for themselves, soon followed. Under the leadership of the red-faced, red-bearded Erik (who had given the island its attractive name, the better to lure settlers there), the colonists developed a little Europe of their own just a few hundred miles from North America, a full 500 years before Columbus set foot on the continent. They established dairy and sheep farms throughout the unglaciated areas of the south and built churches, a monastery, a nunnery, and a cathedral boasting an imported bronze bell and greenish tinted glass windows.


The questions persist: what happened in the end to the last of the Greenlanders? what fate did the people who laid their loved ones to rest in this graveyard by the sea meet? who buried them when they died, and where? did the Greenlanders give up the island and depart for North America, as was said of the western settlers? It is hard to imagine such a mass-migration occurring, if for no other reason than that the islanders lacked the boats to carry it out. Without a ready source of nails, bolts, and wood for repairs, any ships that may have survived from earlier days would have made a leaky fleet indeed.

Were the Greenlanders killed off by the Black Plague? Iceland's population had been reduced by as much as two-thirds when an epidemic struck in 1402 and dragged on for two years. Norway had suffered similarly. Had the Greenlanders also been afflicted, mass graves would tell the tale of the dying, and none from this period have been discovered.

Were the islanders subject to intermittent pirate raids?


Inuit and viking contact in ancient times (http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/2197610/posts)

It must be remembered that in those days the Catholic church played a strong role in the lives of those Christian settlements in Iceland and Greenland. In the book “Early Voyages and Northern Approaches” by Tryggvi J. Oleson (1963), Oleson suggests that marriages between Inuit and the Icelandic norsemen may have occurred during the early contact times but not sanctioned by the church. There is an indication the church frowned upon intermarriages with the heathens, i.e. the Inuit, skraelings, Tunnit and Itqilit.

That a peaceful intercourse and trade existed with Inuit is missing in reports to the church of the pope on the mainland of Europe. The Christian standards of that time distort the actual relationship of the two peoples. Inuit stories indicate there were long, peaceful relationships with early Indians, Skraelings, Tunnit and with the vikings. In fact, other stories passed down talk of these people living together peacefully for periods of time and even intermarrying.

This is evidenced by a number of observations by early missionaries like Hans Egede, who went to Greenland in 1721 and gave a description of the people as being tall, stout, well proportioned men and the women who, if cleaned up, would compare with the most beautiful women of Europe. It would then seem likely that the vikings were eventually absorbed into the peoples they encountered in North America, being more numerous, as viking numbers dwindled. Still they would live side by side in harmony and share a connected history

In addition, still another encounter of a group of people, Skraelings, during the same period was recorded by the vikings. Inuit folklore says the Inuquliit almost match the description of Skraelings by the vikings. They are considered little people, much shorter than Inuit, and about the size of a 9-year-old child. They are strong for their size and lived among the Inuit in harmony until several generations ago. They are darker in complexion as compared to Inuit. They were understood by the Inuit when they spoke. They are not considered to be of Inuit decent and have their own peculiar customs.



DNA Study To Settle Ancient Mystery About Mingling Of Inuit, Vikings (http://209.157.64.200/focus/f-news/974612/posts)


"The Icelandic sagas, at several points, mention the Norse in Greenland meeting people who belong to other cultures," Palsson said.

Although those settlements pushed ever westward from Greenland as early as the 9th and 10th century, they had mysteriously disappeared by the 15th. The fate of settlers - did they simply disappear into the local population? - is unknown.
The Inuit tell legends of long-ago meetings with people from a strange culture.

Tantalizing accounts of European-looking Inuit surface in the accounts of some of the earliest western Arctic explorers, including Sir John Franklin, who was later to lead the doomed Franklin Expedition.

In the first decade of the last century, the famed Arctic explorer Vilhjalmur Stefansson heard a rumour from a whaling captain about fair-haired people living among the Copper Inuit near what is now Cambridge Bay, Nunavut.
Stefansson, hungry for renown, used the rumour to raise money for an expedition to the area. In 1910, he finally caught up with the Inuit he sought.
A documentary entitled Arctic Dreamer, which premieres Friday at the Montreal Film Festival, quotes Stefansson's journals on the meeting:
"There were three men here whose beard is almost the same colour as mine and who look like typical Scandinavians," he wrote. "One woman has the delicate features one sees on Scandinavian girls."



DNA tests debunk blond Inuit legend (http://www.cbc.ca/news/health/story/2003/10/28/inuit_blond031028.html)

[Motörhead Remember Me]

Here is part one of Inuit and viking contact in ancient times.
There are many stories of ‘Qavlunaat,’ white-skinned strangers who were encountered in Inuit-occupied lands in times of old. Stories of contact between these foreign people and Inuit were passed down the generations and used mostly to scare children to behave “or the Qavlunaat will get them.”

This sparked my curiosity to explore both sides of the encounters from written records and Inuit oral legends to see if some of these events can be correlated. One must recall that these legends were passed down orally in the Inupiaq language.

Inuit myths and legends of contact with other people were passed from one generation to the next through story telling traditions. Many people have heard Pete Sovalik, a well-known Inupiaq story-teller tell this shortened version of a story relating to Qavlunaat and other races.

Taimaniqpaa_ruk - In Times of Old – Qavlunaat were one of the children of an Inuk woman who refused to marry; a Ui_uaqtaq. Her name was Sedragina, also known as Sedna in other Inuit regions. In her youth she was just an ordinary person – A young Inuk girl (agnaiyaaq) who grew up disliking men because of abuse committed to her as a child.

Having grown into a beautiful marriageable maiden, niviaq_siaq, men from many lands sought to marry her but she rebuked all men.

One time she was courted by a rich shaman’s son to no avail. Angered by her reluctance, the rich shaman called upon other equally strong shamuses to punish her. Together they cast a great spell upon her father’s lead dog that was transformed into a handsome young man by night but by day, he was just an ordinary lead dog.

Every evening he relentlessly pursued her for sexual favors until she was worn and tired for lack of sleep wherein she, in a weakened state, gave way to his wishes. In due time, she bore a litter of human and dog-like children having a variety of skin colors as many litters often do. These became the other races of man.

As they grew, she decided to send her children away toward the East, for they became a menace to the surrounding communities because of their wild behavior. Her father had also decided to end her miserable existence - to be rid of her and the shame she brought to his house.

In Inupiat legends her story is seen as the beginning of all other human races and of the sea animals. Hence modern Qavlunaat now know her as the Mother of the Sea, a Goddess deity, but in reality Inuit do not have gods. They believe that the visible world is pervaded by Anirniit, the powers, invisible forces or spirits that affect the lives of the living.

The story teller weaves in a passage of time when the children of Sedragina would return to their kin the Inuit. Their return would mark a time of change for the Inuit but the story tellers would not say what kind of change was to follow.

As hundreds of centuries passed, vague stories were heard of the return of these people now known as Qavlunaat but they slowly faded from legends passed down over the generations.

During the time when we lived in our little village of Iviksuk, our great uncle Owen Kiiriq would also tell tales during the dark months of winter in our little dwelling. Recalling a time that Inuit encountered another kind of race who already lived in our lands.

Kiiriq recalled that elders would call them Tunnit or Inukpasuit, the giants. They were treated as fearsome coastal dwellers and were considered enemies of Inuit. They spoke an Inuit language of an archaic type understandable to our ancestors.

Kiiriq would continue his tale and describe how Inupasuit were viewed as unkempt and unclean by Inuit standards. They were considered a danger to Inuit because they at times waylaid and captured unwary hunters.

Being smaller then them, our ancestors were considered a delectable prey. Once captured, they would be cooked and eaten with relish. Thus Inuit feared these giant beings and would attempt to wipe them out if they could. They were considered slow of thought but clever in their means of pursuit of game. Inuit were ever moving eastward and the Inupasuit soon fell into the lot of myths and legends in our great grandparents’ time.

My research led me to Farley Mowat, author of Westviking, who includes descriptive appendices called “The Vanished Dorset”.

Mowat provides a description by the Norse who encountered the Dorset (Tunnit) around A.D.1000 as being swarthy and ill looking with remarkable eyes.

Mowat refers to another encounter of the Tuniit in the Floamanna Saga where the Viking Thorgisl Orrabeinsfostri shipwrecked in Baffin Island around 997. There, he and his men encountered a giant people, describing the Tunnit.

The Tunnit had lived in the Arctic for a long period of time before contact with either Inuit or Vikings. They developed a culture based on seal hunting and wherever their sod houses are found they show a long period of occupancy as noted by their middens of mostly seal remains.

As climate changed, seals moved further north following the sea ice. Mowat suggest that as seals shifted their range, so did the Tunnit following their primary food source. This may be why Erik the Red did not encounter Inuit or Tunnit when he explored the Greenland coast around 981.

Inuit myths and legends have passed through generations of story tellers. Many have changed but a little over time. A number of Inuit legends are being studied by scholars to see if they can be historically correlated to evidence found in archeological sites in several locations.

[Albion]

In addition, still another encounter of a group of people, Skraelings, during the same period was recorded by the vikings. Inuit folklore says the Inuquliit almost match the description of Skraelings by the vikings. They are considered little people, much shorter than Inuit, and about the size of a 9-year-old child. They are strong for their size and lived among the Inuit in harmony until several generations ago. They are darker in complexion as compared to Inuit. They were understood by the Inuit when they spoke. They are not considered to be of Inuit decent and have their own peculiar customs.

Probably the last remnants of the Dorset Culture, (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorset_culture) the people who were moving into Greenland before the Inuit.