why did eric the red name the land he discovered greenland?

Answer 1

First of all.. in response to the previous answer, a quick reality check shows that Greenland's ice cap is hundreds of thousands of years old and covers 95% of that island, so just how different could it have been only 1000 years ago?

Anywhoo.... your answer is.......
Greenland was called Greenland by Erik the Red (was he red??) who was in exile and wanted to attract people to a new colony. He believed that you should give a land a good name so that people want to go there! It very likely was a bit warmer when he landed for the first time than it was when the last settlers starved due to a number of factors, climate change a likely major one. But it was never lush and their existence was always harsh and meager, especially due to the Viking's disdain for other peoples and other ways of living. They attempted to live a European lifestyle in an arctic climate side by side with the Inuit who easily out survived them. For heaven's sake, these people starved surrounded by oceans and yet never ate fish! (Note: this is not a european thing and is in fact a bit of a mystery to this day).

Answer 2

The world had a warmer than normal period, called the Medieval Climate Optimum with lasted from roughly 800 -1300 CE. Grapes grew in England, and Greenland actually had some green. This was also the period of the great Viking expansion, generally listed as covering the years 793 -1066 CE. The Viking power started to decline after that due to better defenses of their enemies and some say, due to the Vikings accepting Christianity and becoming more civilized.

However, the settlements in Greenland continued but did not thrive. One reason is thought to be "The Little Ice Age" from roughly 1300 - 1750 CE. Since the Vikings refused to adopt the cold weather living pattern of the Inuits, who they looked down upon as barbarians and pagans, the Vikings were forced to leave Greenland because of the colder temperatures. The last mention of the Norse settlements in Greenland was in 1408 CE.

Bottom line, parts of Greenland were green and could sustain a framing type economy at the time of Erik the Red.

Answer 3

Because at that time, there were parts of it that were very warm,lush and green...... the perfect place for farming, before the little ice age moved in.

Icelandic settlers led by Erik the Red found the land uninhabited when they arrived c. 982. Around 984 they established the Eastern and Western settlements in deep fjords near the very southwestern tip of the island, where they thrived for the next few centuries, and then disappeared after over 450 years of habitation.

The fjords of the southern part of the island were lush and had a warmer climate at that time, possibly due to what was called the Medieval Warm Period. These remote communities thrived and lived off farming, hunting and trading with the motherland.

After almost five hundred years, the Scandinavian settlements simply vanished, possibly due to famine during the fifteenth century in the Little Ice Age, when climatic conditions deteriorated

Answer 4

At one time, it was green and lush. Besides he only stopped for a few months- he then contiuned his voyage into the Americas.

Another mini-ice aged started towards the end of the Viking era, and by the time the ice age was ending (around 1350) then they started to explore again.

For a period of some 300ish years however, they couldn't explore- ice drove them back

Answer 5

He thought that more people would go to a new country that sounded warm and inviting instead of one that was mostly covered with snow and ice

Answer 6

Because evergreens ringed the coast and he thought it was truly "greenland".....some say he named it that to lure more colonists there.