Helluland

Helluland is the name given to one of the three lands discovered by Leif Eriksson sometime around 1000 AD on the North Atlantic coast of North America. Helluland was characterized in the Icelandic sagas (the Eiríks saga rauða and the GrÅ"nlendinga saga) as a land of large flat stones (from which it earns its name "Helluland" or "Land of Flat Stones"). This leads historians to guess that Helluland was Baffin Island in the Canadian territory of Nunavut.

From the testimony of the sagas, the Norse explorers probably made contact with the native Dorset culture of the region, people whom the sagas term as skraelings, but there were no major cultural ramifications for either side.

Helluland was the first of three lands in North America visited by Leif Eriksson. He decided not to try and settle this land because it was inhospitable. He would later continue south to Markland (probably Labrador) and Vinland (all but certainly Newfoundland).

See also

* L'Anse aux Meadows

External links

* Markland and Helluland Archaeology