Westviking: The Ancient Norse in Greenland and North America

by Farley Mowat

Book by Mowat Farley

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Canada

Paperback

First published June 1, 1968

About the author

Farley McGill Mowat was a conservationist and one of Canada's most widely-read authors.

Many of his most popular works have been memoirs of his childhood, his war service, and his work as a naturalist. His works have been translated into 52 languages and he has sold more than 14 million books.

Mowat studied biology at the University of Toronto. During a field trip to the Arctic, Mowat became outraged at the plight of the Ihalmiut, a Caribou Inuit band, which he attributed to misunderstanding by whites. His outrage led him to publish his first novel, People of the Deer (1952). This book made Mowat into a literary celebrity and was largely responsible for the shift in the Canadian government's Inuit policy: the government began shipping meat and dry goods to a people they previously denied existed.

The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society ship RV Farley Mowat was named in honour of him, and he frequently visited it to assist its mission.

Reviews

[Morgan Bonthoux]

I found the book quite illuminating. at the time this book was around the idea of Newfoundland being a landing point for Vikings was generally scoffed at (I remember discussions as Florida, which Farley Mowat describes being the preferred point of possible landing, while I was in school during the 70's). Also the wave and ocean conditions described by Vikings during violent Atlantic storms, were brought vividly to the screen in the movie, A Perfect Storm. Rouge waves were identified via satellite in the 90's which up until that point were considered mere nautical fantasy. As well, the climatic conditions of greater warmth in the Northern hemisphere was discussed and fauna, especially the tree species being different in Eric the Red's time was spoken about and the seasonal temperature decrease which contributed to driving the Greenland settlements out were all covered. This book speaking on such topics, almost six decades ago are quite enlightening and salient for generations of today to show conditions of today aren't so novel, or unique. Worth the read, even with any inaccuracies or current day revisions. Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater. In six more decades someone will be laughing at our current outlook of something...

[Czarny Pies · Rating 1 out of 5]

Faute de pouvoir donner cinq etrons,je le donne une étoile.

Westviking published in 1965 contains a remarkable amount of distortion and fabrication of fact even by the appalling standards of the Canadian publishing industry. Mowat begins with the Gwyn Jones translation of the two fourteenth century sagas that talk of the existence of North American Viking colony called Vinland:

-1-Eríks saga rauða or the Saga of Erik the Red and
-2- the Grænlendinga saga or the Saga of the Greenlander

Mowat then takes his boat to the departure point in Greenland of Leif Erikson Vinland's founder and then follows the route described in the sagas. Please hold your laughter. This is essentially the method used by Heinrich Schliemann to discover Mycennae.

The big problem is that Mowat locates Vinland on the West of Newfounland despite the fact that archeologists had discovered it five years earlier in 1960 in at a location on the East Side of Newfoundland some 972 kilometres from the location proposed by Mowat.

My parents gave me this book as a Christmas present when I was eleven. I believed him for several years and have never forgiven him once I found out the truth.

[Jim Puskas · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book that is as scholarly and well researched as this might be expected to be a bit dry and tedious but that is certainly not the case here. Picking up on the Icelandic and other Norse sagas (which, after all were tales of high adventure) Mowat has created a work that flows along like a well crafted novel, including an exploration of the personality, capabilities and foibles of the leading characters. He supports his assumptions and conclusions, some of which other historians might view as heretical, with no fewer than 16 appendices. Furthermore, unlike many who have previously written about the early Norse, Mowat brings to the table a detailed knowledge of seafaring under sail in North Atlantic waters and in particular the coasts of Newfoundland and Labrador.
Thoroughly enjoyable!

[Einar Jensen · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s not often that I pick a book that has 200 pages of appendices following 300 pages of text. I’m grateful Farley Mowat arranged his 1965 book Westviking: The Ancient Norse in Greenland and North America this way. He prevented the engaging, thoughtful text from becoming clunky and disjointed. Yet he also proves that the text is based on vast research.

One of my favorite appendices was on ancient weather because it spoke to the environmental historian in me. When my people sailed west from Iceland in the latter decades of the tenth century, they benefited from warmer conditions generated by the Little Climatic Optimum. Climate change occurs in cycles… no, really. During this period, sea ice melted and storms in the North Atlantic decreased. Those conditions improved lifestyles for Norse colonists, the colonists from Ireland and Britain who preceded them to Iceland (called Westmen), and the Dorsets, Beothuks, and other native people who lived in Iceland, Greenland, Labrador, and Newfoundland.

Clearly, Chris Columbus was not the first European to explore North America. In the late 900s, Erik the Red reached Greenland after being exiled from Norway initially and later Iceland; Bjarni Herjolfsson’s knorrir (merchant ship) was blown off-course and he explored Newfoundland’s coast before returning to Greenland; and Leif Eriksson bought Bjarni’s ship and went to Newfoundland. Erik’s other two sons, Thorstein and Thorvald, also explored coasts west of Greenland as did his daughter Freydis Eriksdottir. Thorfinn Karlsefni also led expeditions. Norse expeditions resulted in permanent settlements in Iceland and Greenland, but stupid decisions regarding interactions with native peoples led to abandoning settlements further west. The stories were fascinating.

I found this book on my parents’ shelves and rescued it from a thrift store future. I’d glimpsed its title and Mowat’s name countless times before and dismissed it as probable fiction. I’m glad I read it and I recommend it.

[Tara · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had never done this book with a class. It is a classic, and the student I was working with seemed to get quite a few giggles out of it, but I am not sure if it is a book that gets students searching for more like it.

[Annemarie Kealy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book in my teens, when it first came out. I loved it, couldn't put it down, and it is still one of my favourites.

[Emma Shelford · Rating 4 out of 5]

Incredibly detailed, and likely far too much for a casual reader, but I am interested in the topic. And of course, Farley Mowat tells a great tale.

[Wendell Snow · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Farley Mowat's writing style. This was an intriguing read, and very well researched and documented.

[Ellen F · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really interesting read. Those Vikings were pitiless. I'm glad I didn't live back in those days (as far as I know!).

[Jared · Rating 4 out of 5]

fascinating read. Mowat definitely took some leaps in his commentary to create a more compelling narrative but that was okay because it made it feel a bit more compelling.

[Peter Schaefer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great history, lyrically written

[Garth Pettersen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! Such in-depth research went into this exploration of the Norse voyages and settlements in the west--a treasure.

[Wanda Holmes · Rating 5 out of 5]

For someone who has watched the TV series "Vikings" and "Vikings:Valhalla", it was interesting to read about the early Vikings explorers who came across the Atlantic in search of new land and who discovered Canada and USA before Christopher Columbus. It was cool to read about and see on the enclosed maps the journeys they took.

[Tiamatty · Rating 2 out of 5]

I used to really enjoy reading Farley Mowat. I stopped reading him entirely after this book. I found it long and dull. He does usually make it a narrative, rather than a straight recitation of facts, but somehow, that doesn't keep it from feeling like it just drags on. There's a lot of information, it's well-researched, but it never ends up being particularly interesting.

[Kofeina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bez pitolenia, same fakty

[rn tmssn]

informative. got me interested more in the sagas. got me listening to sagathing, which i do recommend. it's a podcast.