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Helluland
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Helluland is the name given to one of the three lands discovered by Leif Eriksson sometime around 1000 AD on the North Atlantic coast of North America. Helluland was characterized in the Icelandic sagas (the Eiríks saga rauða and the Grœnlendinga saga) as a land of large flat stones (from which it earns its name "Helluland" or "Land of Flat Stones"). This leads historians to guess that Helluland was Baffin Island in the Canadian territory of Nunavut.
From the testimony of the sagas, the Norse explorers probably made contact with the native Dorset culture of the region, people whom the sagas term as skrælings, but there were no major cultural ramifications for either side.
Helluland was the first of three lands in North America visited by Leif Ericson. He decided not to try and settle this land because it was inhospitable. He would later continue south to Markland (probably Labrador) and Vinland (all but certainly Newfoundland).
 Former Colonies and Territories in Canada |
||
|---|---|---|
| Viking: | Helluland • Markland • Vinland | |
| Portuguese: | Labrador • Newfoundland • Nova Scotia | |
| French: | New France (Acadia • Canada • Terre Neuve) | |
| Scottish | Nova Scotia • Cape Breton | |
| English and British: | Newfoundland • Rupert's Land • Nova Scotia • Quebec • Lower and Upper Canada • New Brunswick • Prince Edward Island • Cape Breton • United Canada • British Columbia • Vancouver Island • United Colonies of Vancouver Island and British Columbia • North-Western Territory • Stikine Territory | |