 | VirileVagabond (32)
08/11/2007 | As the other comments noted, Greenland was named by the Viking leadership in order to attract settlers. Some climatologists (as also noted in a prior comment) suggest that the island (the largest in the world, by the way) was much warmer during the Viking Age, but that does not seem to explain how Iceland was named (which remains much warmer). Anyway, an intentional misnomer has to deserve 4-5 stars.
(2 voted this helpful, 0 funny and 0 agree) |
 | GenghisTheHun (168)
07/26/2006 | At the time Greenland was settled by the Vikings, circa 1000 A.D., the climate was very mild. Perhaps even trees were growing on Greenland. If you have ever been in the Arctic or Tundra, you know how remarkable that is.
After a long voyage in Arctic seas, the Vikings probably were relieved to see the green coasts of Greenland.
Many historians contend that the name, however, was propaganda by Eric the Red to get settlers to settle this far north.
In any event, the Viking settlements were destroyed by Eskimos or weather or both during the Mini Ice Age of the Thirteenth and Fourteen Centuries.
(4 voted this helpful, 0 funny and 0 agree) |
