But the Greenland that Erik saw during his explorations in the late 10th century was an arable land with a somewhat warmer climate than it has today (Marcus, 73). To Erik, "Greenland" could have seemed a fair and accurate name for the new land and such arable land would be welcomed news to many Vikings residing in the now heavily settled lands of Iceland....
During the 11th and 12th century, ice was rare in the waters between Iceland and the Greenland settlements. During the 13th century,however, the northern hemisphere witnessed a "mini ice-age", bringing the ice further south. Seasonal ice floes began appearing in sailing lanes and near the settlements. The ice season lengthened and the ice floes were followed by icebergs (Logan, 78)...
In 1410, Icelandic annals affirm "That in the year of Our Lord one thousand four hundred and eight we were present in Hvalsey Church, in Greenland, on the Sunday after the Exaltation of the Cross and witnessed the wedding of Sigrid Bjornsdatter and Thorstein Olafson." After this, Greenland grows silent.
Beginning in 1585, Englishman John Davis sailed three times to western Greenland and found only Eskimos (La Fay, 123). Likewise, in 1712, an expedition including Pastor Hans Egede was sent on behalf of the king of Norway and Denmark to restore the Christian faith among the descendants of the Viking settlers. The expedition found only Eskimos (Roesdahl, 276)..
For a brief moment in history, Christianity thrived on the very edge of civilization. The unforgiving lands of Greenland granted these early settlers fertile lands to allow their cattle and sheep to graze upon and ice-free sailing lanes to import goods such as timber, wine, and iron and the export of walrushides, sealskin, and ivory. At it's pinnacle, Greenland supported a Norse population of over 3500 men and women (Marcus, 101). From it's frozen grounds, sprang up sixteen parish churches and its very own bishopric in control of most arable lands there. In the end, however, the land exhibited its control. Ice began blocking the sailing lanes that the Greenlanders desperately relied upon for communication and raw materials. In the absence of bishops, the settlers began retreating back to the old religion. As hunting land became scarce, clashes with the native Eskimos became inevitable. Cut off from the rest of the world and facing violent incursions from the natives there, the decline of Viking settlement in Greenland was as rapid as it's expansion into the new land. It was now time for the Europeans to "discover" the new lands that the Vikings had visited hundreds of years before and re-introduce Christianity in these parts of the world.
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