Western Settlement News Today

In the 15th century, the Vikings vanished from Greenland after more than 400 years of living there—what happened?

Drought has not been thought of before to be the cause of why the Vikings left Greenland. Vikings were known for their brutal yet comprehensive tactics in piracy, raiding, exploration, and trading in Europe during the 9th and 11th centuries.

Drought might have played a major role in the abandonment of the Eastern Settlement of Vikings around 1450, new research finds.

A breakthrough study has shown that a prolonged drought, not the Little Ice Age, drove the Greenland Vikings to abandon their 400-450-year-old settlements.

Vikings were forced to flee Greenland several centuries ago due to drastically rising sea levels from climate change. New research conducted by scientists has revealed that a combination of growing ice sheets as well as rising sea levels during the 15th century caused catastrophic coastal flooding. These environmental changes destroyed numerous farms and eventually left... Read more »

Climate change that led to sea level rise and severe coastal flooding could explain why the Vikings abandoned their Greenland settlements.