Empires and Imperialism 2730

snip

The settlers-vikings that went to Vinland were very few, and they were a third wave. The estimated numbers for a.d. 1000 are :

Mainland (Norway, Denmark, parts of current Sweden ) : ca 2.5 million Settlers to near shores : (Shetland, Faroes, Man, Ireland, Normandy) : 100.000++ Iceland settlers : around 50.000 IFAICR, it is absent from my sources Greenland settlers : 2-5000. Vinland settlers : 80--120.

These communities were isolated by large stretches of water, the voyage was around a week for trips to local shores and 3-7 weeks for trips over the larger stretches of water.

Populations were simply too small for epidemics to be very long-lived. There are also records of sick crews being left on shores closer to home. and the Faroes have a reputation of being inhabited by those too seasick to go all the way to Iceland. Modern research partly agree, the Faroese get seasick easily.

The Vinland community was simply too small and too short-lived to have had enough pathogens to make an impact. The were a part of three "forward posts" of Norse with steadily smaller footprint, and a high degree of isolation. These "forward posts" were also politically at odds with the mainland kingdoms; they were considered as we consider anarchists and renagades today. Iceland never submitted to a king before very much later.

The Norse made as much a footprint in the New World as Columbus did on his first voyage.

-- mrr