Vatnahverfi (Norse Greenland)

Vatnahverfi was a district in the Norse Greenlanders’ Eastern Settlement and is generally regarded by archaeologists and historians as having the best pastoral land in the colony. The Norse settled the district in the late 10th century and farmed there for nearly 500 years before mysteriously disappearing, likely at some point in the latter 15th century, along with all the other settlements in Greenland. Its name is roughly translated as “Land of Waters” or "Water District," alluding to its many inland lakes.

Placement

Located on Greenland's southwest coast, Vatnahverfi can be broadly thought of as a peninsula stretching northeast from the Labrador Sea to the Jespersens Glacier about 60 km inland and covering approximately 500 km2. It lies between Einarsfjord (today both the fjord and the settlement at its head are called Igaliku) and Hrafnsfjord (today called Agdluitsoq). The heart of peninsula (60.732307, -45.458640) is approximately 140 km northwest of Greenland's southernmost tip at Cape Farewell.

Major landmarks in Vatnahverfi

Settlement

During the Norse period, Vatnahverfi was peopled by kinsmen of Erik the Red who accompanied him in a large exodus out of Iceland in 985 AD. The Greenlander's Saga states that “men who went abroad with Eirik took possession of land in Greenland” and includes in its list a man named Hafgrim who claimed “Hafgrimsfjord and the Vatna district.” A similar account can also be found in the Landnámabók (Book of Settlements).

Erik and his kinsmen usually established their homesteads away from the Labrador Sea, preferring the inland heads of Greenland's southwest fjords where the temperature was milder and the land better suited to their pastoral way of life. This was largely the case in Vatnahverfi too, with the majority of its homesteads situated in the northern half of the peninsula 30 km or more away from the open sea (though the fjords gave them easy access to it). One point of difference with Vatnahverfi in this regard is that many of its farms were inland on lakes and rivers rather than on the fjords. Archaeologists have identified the remains of 50 Norse farms in Vatnahverfi alone, comprising 10% of the known farms in the Eastern Settlement as a whole.

The greatest concentration of Vatnahverfi's farms lay between Hafgrimsfjord and Austfjord (both of which are branches of Einarsfjord) on the peninsula's northwest portion. Hafgrim himself likely settled at the head of his namesake fjord where ruins of a large homestead can still be seen. He and his descendants would have been considered the de-facto chieftains of the district. The homestead also featured a small church, believed by Helge Ingstad to be the Langanes church described in the Saga of Einar Sokkeson. The area is called Eqaluit (“salmon-place”) by modern Inuit Greenlanders.

The area near the head of Austfjord (today called Sondre Igaliku) further north was also an important hub in Vatnahverfi, presumably due to its close proximity and easy access by foot or boat to Gardar about 15 km to the northwest, where the colony's bishopric and Althing parliament were located. As with Hafgrimsfjord there was a small church in Austfjord, called Undir Hofdi. A lump of heat-fused clay and glass found in the ruins of the church suggests that it was burnt at some point, as was possibly the case with larger churches in Brattahlid, Gardar, and Herjolfsnes.

The farms appear to have been quite rich and productive. The excavations revealed that the Norse settlers of Vatnahverfi raised cattle, sheep, goats and pigs, and also kept horses and dogs. The Norwegian crown owned a property called Kongsgarden at the head of Hrafnsfjord in an area called Foss (waterfalls), which was said to be a rich salmon run.[1]

Vatnahverfi In Documented History

In addition to the references in The Greenlander's Saga and Landnámabók, Vatnahverfi was noted in the Saga of Einar Sokkeson, where the protagonist killed a visiting Norwegian merchant with the tacit approval of Bishop Arnold during a banquet at Langanes Church. A Norwegian priest named Ivar Bardarson, who lived in the colony in the mid 14th century as a representative of Archdiocese of Nidaros and the Norwegian crown, referenced Vatnahverfi in his account titled Descriptions of Greenland, noting the excellence of the fishing in the district's lakes. Bardarson also referenced an island named "Renøe" (Caribo Island) which was said to be an episcopal reindeer farm owned by the Gardar bishopric. Archeologists believe this may have been located on what is now called Akia,[2] an island about 26 km southwest of Hafgrimsfjord.

Aboriginal Contact

Although various branches of Paleo-Eskimos had lived in Greenland as far back as 2500 BC, they are believed to have almost entirely abandoned the island by the time of the Norse arrival. The Little Climatic Optimum was then in full force and would have made the Norse areas of settlement on the southwest coast particularly unattractive to arctic hunter-gatherers. In fact, it is believed that the Norse Greenlanders’ first contact with North American aboriginals was not in Greenland at all, but rather with the Beothuk in Newfoundland as described in The Greenlanders Saga and Erik the Red’s Saga. In subsequent decades and centuries, Norse Greelanders began encountering Thule Inuit in the Northsetur hunting districts far to the north of their settlements, where walrus and narwhal ivory could be obtained. The Thule eventually arrived in the areas of Norse settlement as the Little Ice Age allowed them in increase their southern range, at a time when the Norse presence in Greenland was coming to an end. Oral histories from the Inuit relate to instances of both friendship and hostility between the two peoples.

Disappearance

Having endured for nearly a half-millennium, the exact fate of the Norse settlers in Vatnahverfi and the entirety of Greenland remains unknown, although several factors were likely involved. The Greenlanders' pastoral way of life would have been severely challenged by the onset of the Little Ice Age, much more so than their counterparts in Europe. DNA analysis of the Norse Greenlanders' remains from the final known generations shows that marine-based protein - especially from seals - became an increasingly large part of their diet, even in pastoral areas like Vatnahverfi, whereas remains dating from Erik the Red's landnám period showed that most of their diet was land-based. Other theories include the possibility of conflict with the Thule and predation by European pirates. There is no indication from archaeology or human remains that the Norse intermarried with the Thule or adopted their lifestyle, nor any record from Iceland or Norway that hints of an exodus out of Greenland.

Historical records do suggest that ships from Europe arrived less frequently owing to the worsening sea conditions. The Norwegian Crown and Roman Catholic Church in Nidaros (Norway) eventually abandoned the colony to its own devices, although some Popes were aware of the situation. By 1448, Pope Nicholas V wrote about the diocese in Greenland ("a region situated at the uttermost end of the earth") lamenting that it had been without a resident Bishop for about 30 years. These concerns were echoed in a letter dated circa 1500 by Pope Alexander VI, who believed that no communion had been performed in Greenland for a century, and that no ship had visited there in the past 80 years. However, even after the colony was forsaken by the Church, the empty title "Bishop of Gardar" continued to be held by a succession of at least 18 individuals well into the 16th century, none of whom visited their nominal diocese and only one of whom (Bishop Mattias Knutsson) reportedly expressed any desire to do so.[3]

Some sites in Vatnahverfi give clues as to the fate of its Norse inhabitants. A farm located a few kilometres inland from Austfjord had been covered in layers of drifting sand up to 10 feet deep, suggesting that Norse farming and deforestation had left parts of the area vulnerable to erosion and desertification. At another nearby homestead, one of the recovered artifacts was a piece of a church bell, which suggests that the Norse continued to live in Greenland after some of the churches were destroyed. At another large inland farm about half way between Hafgrimsfjord and Austfjord, archaeologists found the remains of a solitary Norse Greenlander who appears to have laid down and died in the entrance way of the house, the implication being that there was nobody else left to bury him. At the same farm, a piece of imported Rhenish pottery was uncovered.[4]

Modern Times

Modern settlements in what the Norse would have recognized as the Vatnahverfi district include Alluitsup Paa on Hrafnsfjord/Agdluitsoq and Eqalugarssuit near Einarsfjord/Igaliku, reflecting a pattern of the Thule culture – and the modern Greenlanders descended from them – generally preferring the ocean-ends of the fjords rather than the inland heads. The areas of Vatnahverfi most favoured by the Norse are less populated, but still in use by modern Greenlanders, primarily for sheep farming and a bit of agriculture. While the old Norse place names have been largely replaced by Inuit ones, Vatnahverfi can still be seen in use on some modern maps.

Fictional Depiction

Jane Smiley’s 1988 novel The Greenlanders is set in 14th century Vatnahverfi, and incorporates some of the historically known places, landmarks, events and people into the fictional plot. The Vatnahverfi farmers are portrayed as the wealthiest and proudest colonists in Greenland.

References

  1. ↑ Helge Ingstad, Land Under the Pole Star (New York: St. Martin's, 1966), pg. 245-8
  2. ↑ Poul Baltzer Heide & Christian Koch Madsen, Norse Coastal Landscapes (Copenhagen, National Museum of Denmark, 2011) pg. 50
  3. ↑ Laurence Larson, "The Church In North America" Catholic Historical Review Vol. 5, No. 2/3, (1919) pg. 193.
  4. ↑ Land Under the Pole Star pg. 246-7

External links

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