One of the Narsaq area's unique attractions is the Norse settlement.
 
The Norse had 2 large areas they settled at in Greenland, whereas the largest was the "Eastern Settlement", which was situated in the present 3 municipalities of Narsaq, Qaqortoq and Nanortalik. The "Western Settlement" was situated in the Nuuk area.
 
In the whole of the Narsaq area you will find ruins from the Norse settlements, often you will see that the Norse cleared the land into meadows and that there this day are modern sheep farms at the exact same places.
 
  Eric the Red's father was condemned an outlaw in Norway, and history repeated itself in Iceland, where Eric was outlawed for three years for killing a man. Knowing he would risk his life if he stayed in Iceland, he decided to sail out and look for the land spotted by Gunbjørn - The land towards the west.
 
Due to the drift ice Eric had to sail all around the south tip of Greenland to make shore and after having sailed the Greenlandic waters and fjords for 3 years he returns to Iceland.
 
At that time, in the year 985, Iceland was experiencing quite a rise in its population figures. So Eric had no problem finding people who wanted to join him in 'Greenland' and, that very same year, 25 ships left Iceland to settle in Greenland.
 
Only 14 ships made the journey - some were crushed by the ice, others did not make it past the stormy waters of Kap Farvel and some decided to turn around and head back for Iceland.
 
Eric the Red chose to settle at the bottom of a long and lush fjord - "modestly" he named it Ericsfjord (today it is called Tunnuliarfik in Greenlandic) - and his farm was named Brattahlid, which is the present Qassiarsuk.
 
  The Norse brought cattle, horses, sheep, pigs and other domesticated animals with them from Iceland to Greenland. The temperatures of Greenland are changing in cycles. About every 500 years the temperatures will be at their lowest or their highest and the Norse arrived at the peak of a warm period.
 
They were living of the land, mainly from their livestock but as the centuries went by they adapted a more and more Greenlandic style of living. Some archaeologists have discovered that up to 85 % of the diet at some farms consisted of seal!
 
Wood and iron was short in supply, so it had to be brought from either Iceland or Europe, a long and costly journey. To pay for all of these goods, the Norse had to trade. In Europe, furs from seals and polar bears, narwhal and walrus tusks were highly in demand so these products were traded. In this trade, the Inuit possibly played an important role. They were specialised in catching these great mammals of the sea and they wanted the iron and wooden goods that the Norse had.
 
The Inuit came from Canada to Thule at the same time as Eric the Red settled in South Greenland and they slowly wandered southwards. There is no exact date for the first meetings between the Inuit and the Norse, but roughly around 1100 or 1200 they must have met somewhere along the coastline. We will return to these Norse-Inuit encounters later.
 
Fish was also an important part of the diet, but due to the thin fishbones that rotted very quickly in the dung heaps there is no real evidence on this theory.
 
Beside the fish and sea-mammals, milk was another important part of the diet. The cows and sheep were of too great a value to be eaten so they were practically only used for milking. They would separate the lambs from their mothers in the evening and in the morning you could milk them.
 
As time went by the Norse began to depend more and more on the resources they had by hand. The wooden boats were replaced with boats made of sealskin and whalebones. The fire was produced by whale oil, and the strings and threads were from seals.
 
Sometimes they would sail to Markland (Labrador) and gather wood, but visits were not that common due to some clinches between the Norse and the Indians.
 
  Most farms were placed deep inside the fjords where the climate was most stable and the ground the most fertile. More modest farmhouses had both stable and home in one building. In that way, the bodyheat from the animals would help heat up the house. The wealthier landowners had stables, barns and houses separated. To make sure the farms would keep warm, some of the walls would be up to 5 meters thick. The walls were made of turf and stones, with the turf on the inside. All doors were very narrow to prevent heat from leaving the buildings.
 
Depending on the livestock, the buildings would vary in shape and thickness of the walls. Sheep and horses had such thick furs, that they could keep most their body-heat in the cold Greenlandic winters.
 
The ruins are found all over South and Western Greenland, some of them very close to the edge of the Ice Cap, as the ground often was very fertile there.
In his book "Things and Wonders - the Norsemen in Greenland and America" Jens Rosing gives an account of the daily life of the Norsemen in Greenland and their voyages to America. The book is in hardback, 28 x 20 cm, and illustrated by the author with 28 full page colour illustrations and many drawings. - Jens Rosing was born in Ilulissat on the north-west coast of Greenland. He has written and/or illustrated a number of books and designed more than 150 Greenland postal stamps. He served as a director of the Greenland Museum in Nuuk 1976-78 and he participated in the excavation of the Norse inland farm at Nipaatsoq. In 1980 he was awarded the prize for popular science of the Danish Authors Association.
 
  When Eric the Red came to Greenland, he and his family were all believers of the old Nordic mythology. But around year 1000 the son of Eric, Leif Eriksson, went to Norway to serve the king of Norway and became a believer of the new faith, Christianity. He brought his new faith back home and soon his mother, Tjodhildur, also converted to the new religion.
 
Tjodhildur built the first church in Brattahlid, which is actually also the first church on the American continent. A replica of the church has been built to celebrate the 1000 years of Christianity in Greenland (link!). Eric was not that keen on turning his back to the old Gods so Tjodhildur made use of the ancient trick of not letting Eric into her bed until he converted, which he reluctantly did.
 
Only a little more than a hundred years after Greenland was christianized the country was made a diocese. The cathedral was built in Gardar (Igaliku) where the ruins are still visible.
 
As in other parts of the Roman-Catholic world, the church quickly became grand landowners. Two monasteries were built by the church. One for monks in Garder and another for the nuns, which was built near Uunartoq, the hot springs.
 
During the period of the Norse in Greenland many hundred churches were built all over South and West Greenland. In those times, it was customary for each farm to have their own small church. However, this would depend on your status in the hierarchy of the Norse society.
 
  At the same time as Eric the Red settled in South Greenland the Inuit crossed the strait between Canada and North Greenland. Over the decades and centuries, the two people came closer and closer. Both the Icelandic Sagas and Greenlandic mythology bear witness of many encounters between these two people. Not all were that bloody and xenophobic as most stories tell, but, naturally, it was not without problems for two that different cultures to live side by side.
 
The fact that the Norse adapted more and more of the Inuit way of living in their daily life is certain proof of a peaceful co-existence for many years. The sagas and myths tell of good friendships and marriages among the Norse and Inuit. But as the climate turned colder, the Norse had to start relying on the same animals as the Greenlanders and disputes were inevitable.
 
  There are probably as many reasons as theories of the disappearance of the Norse in Greenland. The change in climate definitely is an important objective as it is documented very clearly that the climate became colder. This had an effect on many things. The corn would not ripen which meant that the Norse had to catch more "Greenlandic" food, but their technical skills were not specialised for this kind of hunting. It also meant they had to compete with the Greenlanders over the hunting grounds, which could lead to some fighting and thereby a slow extinction of the Norse.
 
But also the conditions in Europe played an important part in the puzzle. The climate had also worsened there and they had suffered during a famine in the 12th century. The plague had killed a third of the population of Norway and finally the Hanseatic League burned down the town of Bergen in 1393. Bergen was the centre of all sailing to the Arctic.
 
In 1350 a man was sent to the northern settlements - Vesterbygden - but all he met were Inuit. The last written proof of the Norse in Greenland was a wedding in the Hvalsey Church in 1407.
 
No one has ever found out what happened to the Norse. In 1721, when Hans Egede came to Greenland to convert the Norse, whom he still believed lived in Greenland he only found Inuit.