[Northkeep] Nordic stuff

[Marc Carlson]

(Skerri)
>They founded Greater Sweden-russia

That -is- the popular mythology, yes.  I'm told that there are a bunch of
Slavic folks who disagree :)

>-and found, for the west, North America and Greenland.

Again, the currently popular mythology.  Norse folks certainly found
Greenland, no doubt there - although Greenland's not a continent. AND even
maintained a colonial presence there for almost 400 years.  The North
America thing's still a little touchy for some folks, since while there are
a few detail bits that do indicate that there were physical visitations,
they really didn't leave a lot of material that unequivocally proves a major
presence.  Even so, the fact that it took almost 500 years before NA was
"discovered" again suggests it wasn't really all that big a deal.
(Honestly, the history of North America before 1492 does seem to suggest a
regular series of visits and colonizations that go back at least 30,000
years to the first human "discovery".

===================
(Jean Paul)
>So because you think that a bunch of Norse Frat boys started some fires,
>got lost (multiple times),
>and couldn't find their way home they "influenced" civilization..
>Well, sure, every civilization needs a something to point to and say "Do
>you want to turn out like them? Well? Do you?"

Like the French?

========================
(Skerri)
>Frat boys, huh?  That's an interesting comeback.

"Comeback"?

>Started some fires.  Well, yes, i suppose a city on fire falls into that
>category.

So there is no difference between the guys who went around burning, looting
and
terrorizing the rest of Europe, and Scandinavian merchants?

>Got lost.  Well, back then, that was the way to explore.  Although, they
>actually
>were going off of legends and second+ hand info from others.

That is NOT how they found either Greenland or Vinland.

Gunnbjorn Ulfsson was blown off course heading for Iceland when he sighted
some islands west of Iceland (i.e. he got lost).  When Eirik rauda found
Greenland he was LOOKING for those islands ("Gunnbjornskerries") and got
lost.  Bjarni Herjolfsson, who was sailing with the original colony fleet to
Greenland when HE got lost and discovered what would eventually be called
Vinland, if you believe the sagas (Graenlendinga Saga and Eiriks Saga Rauda
contain massive irreconcileable contradictions with one another on this
whole topic).

>...As far as turning out like them, trial by jury comes from the
>scandinavians

I believe the jury's still out on that one also.  Yes it has some
similarities to the Thing, as well as the Roman Judices and the Saxon jury
system.  I pesonally suspect that it's an evolution over time of bits and
pieces of all three.

=================
(Ron)
>Interesting way of looking at history...
>a bunch of Frat boys get bored, go on a road trip, stop, start a little
>fire to
>party by, wakeup, and can't seem to find there way back, so lets party some
>more. . . hmmm... could be Fun!

Think of it as a road trip you can go on, drink all you want, and come back
with more money than you left with.

M/D

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