Vinland , the land of wild grapes in North America visited and named by Leif Eriksson on the year 1000 ce . The exact location is not known, but it was probably the area around Gulf of Saint Lawrence in present-day East Canada .
The most detailed information about Viking Visits to Vinland are in two nordic say contain: Grænlendinga Saga ("Saga of the Greenlanders") and Eirík's saga rauða ( "Eric the Red Saga"). These two accounts are slightly different. According to the Grænlendinga Saga Bjarni Herjólfsson was the first European to see mainland North America as his Greenlandic ship was off course at 985. He apparently sailed along the Atlantic Coast in eastern Canada and from there returned to Greenland. About 1000 a crew of 35 men led by Leif Eriksson , the son of Eric the Red set out to find the land sighted by Bjarni. Leif's expedition first led to an icy, barren land he called Helluland ("land of flat rocks"). As they sailed south, they encountered a flat woodland that Leif called Markland ("Land of the Woods"). Again they sailed south and came to the warmer, more hospitable area where they decided to stay and build a base, Leifsbúðir ("Leif's Camp"). They found fine from there wood and wild grapes, which led them to call the land Vinland ("land of wine"). Leif's brother a few years later Thorvald led an expedition to Vinland and spent two years there before dying in a skirmish with locals. The following year, a third brother, Thorstein, attempted to reach Vinland to bring Thorvald's body back to Greenland, but storms kept him away. Encouraged by reports of Vinland's wealth, Thorfinn Karlsefni , an Icelandic trader who visited Greenland a few years later, led another expedition to Vinland. By the time this party stayed there for three years, trade with the local native people turned to warfare, and the colonists gave up and returned to Greenland. The last Vinland expedition was led by Erik the Red Daughter Freydis in partnership with two Icelandic merchants and their crews. According to the Grænlendinga Saga Freydis had her people kill the Icelandic crew before returning to Greenland. This is how the Norse visits to America ended, as far as the historical record is concerned.
In Eirík's saga rauða Leif is the accidental discoverer of Vinland, and Thorfinn Karlsefni and his wife Gudrid are credited for all subsequent explorations. It describes two settlements, Straumfjord ('fjord of currents') to the north and Hóp ('tidal estuary lagoon') to the south. The Straumfjord is a base for exploration that all colonists retreat to in winter. Hóp is a Summer camp, where explorers find wild grapes and fine wood. Both in Hóp and somewhere north of Straumfjord, the Norse meet large groups of indigenous people. After a short trading period, skirmishes ensue with fatalities on both sides. The Norse feel outnumbered and return to Greenland
The Norse name for the land they discovered, Vinland, reflected reality. Archaeological discoveries in L'Anse aux Meadows showed that northerners traveled south to areas where grapes grew wild. Wine was a luxury drink consumed by the elite of Nordic society as part of a ostentatious lifestyle estimated and it was a means of power and influence. The area with the grapes closest to L'Anse aux Meadows is to the east of New Brunswick . The Norsemen probably made their discovery there. It was also an area of impressive hardwood forests where excellent timber could be harvested, a treasure for Greenlanders who lacked forests. The tales of the North American "Land of Wine" entered continental European literature, almost certainly not until 1075 through the History of the Archbishops of Hamburg-Bremen, written by Adam, leader der Bremen Cathedral School ( cf. Adam von Bremen ). Adam mentioned Vinland on behalf of the king Sweyn II Estridsen from Denmark Iceland , Greenland and other North Atlantic countries known to the Scandinavians told . Adam says of King Sweyn:"He also spoke of another island of the many found in this ocean. It's called Vinland because it grows vines that produce excellent wine. “
Then why did the Norse leave Vinland so quickly? The distance from Greenland was great, more than 3,500 km (2,200 miles) to the region of good hardwoods and grapes, farther than Norway, where they could get the same goods. Besides, they weren't alone in the new land; It was already occupied by humans who outnumbered them by the thousands. The biggest obstacle, however, was the small population of Greenland. A colony of only about 500 people just didn't have the manpower to settle and support a splinter colony that far from home.