βEven the Spanish Inquisition was like, βGoddamn Chris, wtf is wrong with youββ
this post was submitted on 11 Oct 2025
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It would have been interesting if the Vikings had survived longer than they did.
North American history would have been a lot different if they had. I still think it would have been a bloody, genocidal history ... but a vastly different history.
The vikings knew about metallurgy and making iron. What would history have looked like if iron manufacturing and knowledge had developed in the New World for 500 years before the arrival of the Spanish? What kind of empires or kingdoms could have developed and influenced themselves over that time period?
Imagine Columbus conquering Central America, moving north and running into a mixed Indigenous/Viking kingdom that ruled the Atlantic coast of North America and had iron weapons, ship technology and were more than capable of conducting war. Imagine what would have happened if that same Indigenous/Viking kingdom got their hands on gunpowder, firearms and cannons.
On the other hand, a funny thought is what might travel the other way - American flatbows are some of the most powerful in the world, and have a long history, whereas at the point of Norse contact in Vinland, the English and Welsh had not developed their tradition of longbow archery (as late as the 13th century, crossbows were still the preferred weapon amongst the English, as they outperformed traditional European shortbows in most metrics).
Americas-influenced Viking archers ravaging Europe, anyone?
It would be hard to imagine an America with extended contact with Europe which didn't absorb the technologies offered by those connections. Trade/travel is one of the most reliable ways of transferring technology across cultures - being but one step removed from the northern polities of Europe would have almost certainly caused a technological explosion amongst Native American polities. And at such an early (relative) date, when logistical concerns were still a massive constraint on long-distance travel? It would be hard to imagine any later 15th-16th century European expedition being successful, even without indigineous gunpowder.
Funny enough, I was just reading a series of essays on the logistics of the Medieval Crusades. Sea travel was fucked at that early point contemporary with the Viking discovery of Vinland, we really take even good sailing ships for granted in our conceptions of the past.
Right one also inspired a popular anime.
And a pretty fun mission in Age of Empires II: The Conquerors
Okay, do we know for a fact that he didn't commit genocide? 'Cause from what I'm aware, the records are pretty spotty.
Even though I am definitely willing to err on the side of caution and say that he didn't, because it seems like there would be a record of that and the Vikings weren't exactly the genocide type. They were more like rape and pillage.
I mean, with such a small force without a major force multiplier against the native population, it would have been extremely difficult to commit genocide. Leif also spent only a small amount of time in Vinland, long enough to found a settlement, but returned to Greenland shortly thereafter.
it would have been extremely difficult to commit genocide.
Counter point
ACHOO!
I mean, I still think it's highly unlikely they were able to inflict mass casualties or genocide, based on your points. But they still might have wanted to of they could have? And surely they might have accidentally decimated a few villages by accidental germs.
Sure but that's not really committing genocide unless done intentionally.
More of a trade and explore kind of people really. The vast majority of interactions Scandinavians of the time had with outsiders was through trade. The British got a little butthurt after Danelaw so now we're stuck with this "barbarians coming over the sea to rape and pillage" narrative in movies and TV. And does pillaging monasteries even count? It's pretty much what they are for.
"Hinga dinga durgen" - Leif Erikson probably
Ive seen it suggested that Polynesians might have gone to the Americas at some point (prior to their contact with Europeans familiar with the place that is), given that the presence of sweet potatoes and some genetic similarities. If such a thing did occur, I wonder if it was before or after the vikings visited.
The mere existence of sweet potatoes in Polynesia before 1492 is hardly proof -- they could've floated across by themselves or something.
What's really interesting is that the word for sweet potato is basically the same in Polynesian and Andean languages ("kumara"), and words don't float.
Indigenous People's Day > Colombus Day
The Vikings had recently embraced Christianity and had a sense of superiority to heathen cultures, which prevented them from leaving anything from peoples who had survived in the land they were trying to colonise. Then the climate got slightly colder and that was the end of their colonies.
Probably more that they were a small group of outcasts with marginal skills, a long way from resupply and prone to infighting, which is why the Vinland settlements only lasted a handful of years despite the land being supposedly quite plentiful.
Paganism was still alive at the time, especially amongst Icelanders and Greenlanders of the period.