Norse sagas tell of voyages from Greenland to a western land called Vinland led by Leif Erikson around the year 1000. In 1960 the Norwegian explorer Helge Ingstad and his wife, the archaeologist Anne Stine Ingstad, found the remains of eight turf buildings, an iron-working forge and a woodworking site at L'Anse aux Meadows on the tip of Newfoundland. In 2021 a study of tree rings, tied to a solar storm recorded in the wood in 993, showed that Norse axes had cut the timber exactly in 1021. It is the first known European presence in the Americas, five centuries before Columbus.
Before and after
- 1015Construction of Cathedral of Our Lady of Strasbourg
- 1020Death of Ferdowsi
- 1020Construction of Wawel Cathedral
- 1021Ibn al-Haytham completes the Book of Optics
- 1021Vikings are at L'Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland
- 1024The Song dynasty issues the first government paper money
- c. 1020sAl-Biruni measures the size of the Earth
- 1025Avicenna completes the Canon of Medicine
- 8 November 1028Birth of William the Conqueror
More in Exploration & discovery
- 972 CEBirth of Leif Erikson
- from 1271 to 1295Marco Polo sets out for China
- 14 June 1325Ibn Battuta sets out from Tangier
- 1368Death of Ibn Battuta
- c. 1435Death of Zheng He
- 9 March 1454Birth of Amerigo Vespucci
The era
This moment belongs to the Medieval world (500 CE to 1500 CE), kingdoms, faiths and trade routes. You can also browse everything in the 11th century.