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The age of Viking exploration and expansion occured during the Viking period between AD 790-1100. In that time, the Vikings founded new trade routes, raided nearby lands and explored uncharted seas. Throughout many of the Island realms in Scandanavia, Britain, Ireland, the Americas and Southern Europe, the Vikings left their stamp on history.

The first recorded Viking raids occurred in AD 793 when warriors raided a small island on the northeast coast of Britain and attacked the monastery on Linisfarne.

Amongst the Islands, the first recorded habitation of Iceland occured around AD 874 when the Norwegian chieftain Ingólfur Arnarson became the first permanent Norwegian settler on the island. Over the centuries, people of Nordic and Gaelic origin continued to settle there and by AD 930 the most arable land had been claimed, and the Althing, a legislative and judiciary parliament, was founded in a place called Thingvalla (Thingveller) which in Icelandic means; (Þing: 'parliament', vellir: 'plains').

Around AD 982, Eric the Red, who was living in Iceland after leaving Norway, was banished from the Island for crimes involving the death of others. Taking his loyal followers, they set sail for a new land to the west of Iceland which he named Greenland in order to attract new settlers. He spent three years exploring this island till his exile was over then he returned to Iceland with stories of this new land.

That same year, taking many new settlers with him, he returned to Greenland and established two colonies on its southwest coast. The Eastern settlement of Eystribyggð where he built his estate of Brattahlíð, and the Western settlement of Vestribyggð, which is close to present-day Godthåb. Both settlements flourished with the only suitable areas for farming along with over 3000 people spread out over the area.

Then in AD 1002 an epidemic was brought to Greenland and many perished including Eric who died in AD 1003. The colonies recovered and survived until the little ice age where it is thought a number of factors contributed to its decline and subsequent abandonment.

According to a lecture by James S.Aber on the Climatic History of the Holocene, "The last reliable account of Norsemen living in Greenland comes from 1408-10, when a wedding took place at Hvalsey Church in southwestern Greenland. Based on archeological evidence, it seems that Norsemen continued to live in the vicinity until about AD 1480. However, when the region was next visited, by German merchants in AD 1510, only Inuits were found living among the ruins. The harsh climate after 1300 was undoubtedly a factor in the demise of the Norse settlements. Cold climate reduced dairy production, and extensive sea ice hampered essential trade with Europe."



Sometime around AD 1000, the Viking explorer, (Lucky) Leif Ericson, the son of Eric the Red, set sail and discovered three lands in the Americas. The first was Baffin Island which he called Helluland, its name being derived from the "large flat shiny stones" of the land. As it was an inhospitable place, they did not settle there.

The second land he came to was a flat wooded land with white sandy beaches which he called Markland (Wood-land). This region of Atlantic Canada is known today as Labrador.

After leaving Markland they sailed on and found land again. Here they landed and built houses for the winter. It was a pleasant land with green grass, streams of fresh salmon and a mild climate. They named it Vinland (Newfoundland) after one of the men found wild grapes growing there.

But none of these lands were to be permanently settled. Troubles with the native Americans and bad luck hampered the Vikings and they eventually abandoned these places.