Viking North Atlantic colonization

Timeline

1. c. 982–984Iceland · IcelandErik Thorvaldsson was exiled from Iceland for a killing, and sailed west to explore and discover habitable areas along the Greenland coast. According to the Saga of Erik the Red, after three years of exploration he returned to Iceland to recruit settlers, naming the new land Greenland to attract settlers.
2. c. 985–990Brattahlíð, Greenland (Eastern Settlement) · GreenlandAround 985, Erik arrived in Greenland with fourteen ships and several hundred settlers, establishing the Eastern Settlement and Western Settlement farming communities. The colonists lived by livestock farming, hunting sea mammals, and trading walrus ivory, and built churches and assembly places, forming the most remote permanent Norse society overseas.
3. c. 990–1000Iceland–Greenland–Vinland route · North AtlanticOnce the Greenland colony stabilized, it maintained regular shipping with Norway and Iceland, forming a trans-North Atlantic trade and migration network. This base provided a springboard for Leif Erikson and others to later discover Vinland to the west, marking the extension of Viking seafaring from the Atlantic island chain to the edge of the North American continent.