haha I do not know if they are named after those two, but we do learn this stuff although some teachers does not have their facts straight.
I thought for a long time that the reason it was called "Vinland" was because they found grapes there. . .but that is most likely a legend. I must admit that I had forgotten why Erik the Red left iceland and so I had to read up on that.
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Originally Posted by Davem
Well, Icelanders weren't exactly 'expansionist' - for a lot of the time they were more concerned with simple survival. Another reason why the society was basically peaceful was that farms needed running & it was difficult to sustain violent feuds which cut individuals off from the rest of the community or risk alienating their neighbours (plus in such a small community most families tended to be related to each other to some degree). Icelanders were farmers first & foremost - but farmers with swords & a strong sense of personal honour.
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You are right, but in this respect the Icelanders are not very different from the rest of the Norse society. . .Vikings was not worriors by profesion, they where farmers and blacksmiths and stuff. . . Why did they come to Iceland in the first place? They where running out of farmable land in their home lands. . . there was also the raiding, but it was not the main thing.
So I think the Viking soicieties in genneral was a lot more peaceful than people think, but it was not idyllic like the shire.
I just see far more paralels to Numenor than to the Shire.