Vikings were Raiders from the 8th to 11th century

They made the lives of medieval Europe even worse by plundering the undefended villages

Stealing and killing everyone who got in their way Vikings were certainly brutal don't get me wrong

But we see today that the Vikings were far more than just the barbarians they were made out to be

If there was one thing a Viking was first and foremost. He was a sailor

They're fantastically crafted ships allowed the Scandinavians to explore new lands either

Peacefully or not the Viking Age

yes was an age of pillaging and bloodshed, but it was also an age of colonization and

Exploration even sailed to a mysterious land known as Vinland a land told in the oral tradition of Icelandic stories

one with enough bountiful berries to make wine and

Populated by screeching people which fought back the newcomers. What was Vinland? Well today, we know it by simply

Newfoundland Canada, yep. By the time Columbus discovered America

The new world had been talked about in Viking legend for generations

The colony of Vinland failed in the span of a few years there was just too much going against it to be successful

but the idea of

Scandinavians somehow living in the new world

500 years before Columbus is far too interesting to just not talk about so let's imagine what if in an alternate timeline

The Vikings stayed in America that failed colony of Vinland somehow stays alive

Just like Iceland before I get into that question. I want to answer this one

Why did Vinland fail in the first place?

First are the natives themselves

Or are Scraeling as the Vikings called them the Vikings and natives did not get along the very first confrontation

Involved the Vikings killing two natives while the natives then chased them off

second was the population of Scandinavia itself the Vikings were far outnumbered the Scandinavian population was

minuscule a huge Viking population in Canada

Not likely. Third was navigation and technology even for the Vikings the journey was tough

so don't imagine the regular trips that future societies easily could do to the new world Vikings were best on the shore and

Not really in the open ocean. The point I'm making is I know Vinland surviving is practically impossible

This is more or less for fun

Taking all those factors into account so onto the scenario if you're imagining North America in this alternate timeline having some

Hybrid culture between Vikings and natives well. I'm sorry to crush your dreams Vikings

Never wanted to intermingle with the natives and even if somehow they did there were too few

Vikings to create some hybrid culture the colony would simply become less Scandinavian over time and

disappear what I qualify as

Colonisation and success is Vinland simply surviving to create a lasting

Scandinavian presence in

Canada be enough of a success that word comes out

More Vikings actually show up to sustain the colony in North America. The first thing that needs to change is the relationship between

Viking and native. In this alternate timeline peace somehow is maintained between the two for a while

How long? Long enough. Low population meant any conflict would kill Vinland

But if peace lasted just enough for Vikings to be enticed to sail to the land of wine then the cycle could be

Reinforced a good defense means more colonist, which means a better defense if war breaks out later fine

But it can only break out once the Vikings have enough of a foothold in America

So Vinland by now has a reputation a far-off land with strange natives

But full of grapes to make wine from naming of lands for Vikings meant everything

Why do you think this notably notgreen place is named, Greenland?

they needed people to go there so the colony wouldn't die, and

died that colony would and our timeline Greenland became a

Pitiful struggling colony and bad winters forced the Vikings off and back to Iceland

However in this alternate timeline if Vinland still survived, then those Greenland refugees could easily flee to Canada instead

Bolstering the colony's population as the centuries went on in the Viking Age would end the settlement would grow

Becoming a stopping point for eventually the Danish or Norwegians or Swedish to trade supplies with and maybe

explore further south because of that reliance on the constant trade with Europe, Europe would slowly begin to realize just

Where Vinland actually was as the Viking Age ended and European empires begin

Vinland would change hands between Norway and Denmark

numerous times rumours would always be abound primarily in

Scandinavian circles about land south of Vinland with vast forests and warm weather

It wouldn't be until the Renaissance when those rumours were actually mapped would it be Columbus who would sail across the ocean blue in

1492

no, the only reason nobody sailed the ocean before Columbus was because everybody thought they would just die Columbus was an

idiot who thought the earth was shaped like a pear so they just let him go. But in an alternate world where the

Scandinavians have been using this path across the Atlantic for centuries

Everyone would know something be it Asia or another land was across that ocean

There is much less risk when people have been sailing that route since the 10th century so explorers might map out the coasts

centuries before our own timeline

Finland would be an established European

Colony to get supplies from in sail further south it wouldn't be the spanish or the portuguese to have the first major

Empire in the americas it would be the swedish. Sweden in our timeline tried their own little colonial effort in delaware

It didn't go anywhere(see the rhyme?)

However if the Scandinavians had Finland then they would have the first

Opportunity to colonize the new land while I said there wouldn't be a Viking empire,

I never said their descendants wouldn't. Vinland replaces Quebec in this alternate timeline the

Norwegian and Swedish have first picked on the land and claimed it before the English and French ever reach

It could they hold it well who knows instead of Spain and Portugal kick-starting the Age of Exploration

It would be the Scandinavians. Perhaps launching them into having an empire

Just like the British French and Spanish of our own timeline. What happens after that well

I feel there are multiple possibilities in general the Americas would be something Europe would have known about for centuries before

Actually reaching it. It'd always be a rumor and the first people to really take advantage of it would be the Viking descendants

Themselves this however is simply one scenario out of the countless that could happen

We'll never truly know what would happen at Vikings colonized America, but it's fun to theorize

This is Cody of Alternate History Hub

Subtitles: Thomas Martinez(huge fan of your channel!!)