“Vikings were ship bound warriors and traders during the Eighth through Eleventh century. This time was known as the Viking Age. Many do not know that it was actually the Vikings who discovered North America. Some five hundred years before Columbus did in 1492, “Leif the Lucky” discovered Iceland, Greenland, and eventually North America through Newfoundland and the Canadian territory known as Quebec.
The Vikings were described by famed Islamic writer, Ibn Fadlan, as being giant in their size. He wrote in “Risala”- “I had seen the Vikings as they came on their own merchant journeys and camped by the Volga. I have never seen more perfect physical specimens, tall as date palms, blonde and ruddy; they have neither a tunic or caftans, but the men wear a garment which covers one side of the body and leaves a hand free.”
Much like the Celtic giants of ancient times, Vikings had outgrown their own lands in Scandinavia, so they set out to find new places to inhabit. Most of the European kingdoms looked at the Vikings as savage barbarians because they raided even the monasteries in search of food, wealth and treasure. The Vikings were led by Chieftains and had democratic ideas unlike the pirates. They were law abiding and organized. The Vikings, much like their giant predecessors, used brute force and strength in battle. The Vikings were also wise in that they used what advantages they had to make surprise attacks on unsuspecting kingdoms. Many young Scandinavian farm boys went off to be Vikings as a way to break free from their boring lives. The allure of the sea beckoning them to freedom, adventure and riches.
Vikings are most notable gifted sailors and navigators. Their longships, as they are called, were shallow enough to maneuver up rivers for attacks. They had high tapering bows and sterns and low sides up to twenty feet wide. The ships also had a sail that would cover a thousand square feet. They could carry nearly twenty-five tons of cargo and needed less than ten crew members to operate. Their narrow boats with giant sails could cut through the sea at thirteen knots and even sail directly into the wind. The ships were equipped with oars to help when the winds had died down. They could store up to fifty oars and could carry 200 men with up to thirty-five rowing benches. These ships were a wonder to marvel at.
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Vikings easily sailed across the open ocean and, without warning, raided neighboring kingdoms and explored lands for new Viking settlements. Their ships could beach anywhere and could go upriver even as far inland as Paris. They attacked, then retreated before their enemies’ armies were even able to assemble to fight back. They attacked Spain, England, Italy, Russia, Ireland, Scotland, Iceland, and even some parts of North America.
From Scandinavia, Iceland is only six hundred miles and was reached by these ancient Viking ships in three to four days. It was “Eric the Red” who first made the trip from Norway to Iceland in 913 A.D. He then headed west and was the first to settle in Greenland. His son, Leif Erikson “Leif the Lucky” would make the trip from Greenland to the North American continent and settle in Vineland or Newfoundland in 1001 A.D., nearly five hundred years before Christopher Columbus. There is no proof that Leif actually made it as far south as the United States portion of North America, but there has always been speculation that the Vikings made it to Maine and Boston and even as far as Minnesota.
These Nordic warriors, with their gift for seaworthiness, were written about in many accounts as being of “great stature”. Certainly, they were notably taller than most other Europeans of their time, like the Celtic giants before them. Many speculate that for fewer than ten crewmembers to raise a giant sail of a thousand square feet, these Vikings had to be incredibly strong, clear evidence that they had to be significantly larger in stature.
Over the three hundred years that the Vikings reigned over the Atlantic Ocean, it is estimated that some thirty thousand people made the journey from Scandinavia across the Atlantic. Who were these thirty thousand people? Were they all Vikings? Not exactly. In Leif Erikson’s own explorations, he wrote that crews included Turks and Germans. And, at the time that King Solom put out the ransom for all giants to be killed and destroyed, many of the European giants had fled north. Since the Vikings and these fleeing giants had similar traits and commonalities, perhaps the Vikings, in exchange for some sort of wealth, allowed giants to book passage on their ships across the Atlantic. It is quite possible that some of them were giants who made it to North America as a means to start a new life for themselves. By all accounts, stories and legends told by the tribal natives who lived in North America mention giants frequently. This is likely the bridge in the story between the giants of ancient times and those in the United States.
