In stages, the Vikings established settlements in the Shetland Islands, Faroe Islands, Iceland, Greenland, and finally Newfoundland & Labrador. 

At the tip of the Great Northern Peninsula of the island of Newfoundland are the remains of an 11th century Viking settlement. Evidence of the first European presence in North America.

More than 1,200 years ago, Vikings from Norway set out on a series of daring voyages that would eventually result in their being the first Europeans to explore the east coast of North America.

In stages they established settlements in the Shetland Islands, Faroe Islands, Iceland, Greenland, and finally Newfoundland & Labrador. 

The excavated remains of wood-framed peat-turf buildings are similar to those found in Norse Greenland and Iceland.

L'Anse aux Meadows is the first and only authenticated Norse site on this continent. It was first brought to worldwide attention in 1960 by Helge and Anne Ingstad, a Norwegian couple who had searched for years to solve the puzzle of the sagas.

Photo Courtesy of Hans van Klinken