Norse exploration — what prompted it
Practice Flashcards
Flip to reveal answersWhat two main factors prompted Norse westward exploration c.982–1020?
Track your progress — Sign up free to save your progress and get smart review reminders based on spaced repetition.
All 12 Flashcards — Norse exploration — what prompted it
Sign up free to track progress and get spaced-repetition review schedules.
Question
What two main factors prompted Norse westward exploration c.982–1020?
Answer
Population pressure and lack of arable land in Scandinavia/Iceland, plus advances in shipbuilding (the longship and knarr) enabling open-ocean voyages.
Question
Define population pressure as it applies to Norse Iceland.
Answer
Too many people for the amount of farmable (arable) land available, worsened by land being split between sons through inheritance.
Question
What is a knarr, and how does it differ from a longship?
Answer
A wider, deeper-hulled Norse ship built for cargo and long ocean voyages, unlike the narrower, shallower longship built for speed and coastal raiding.
Question
What is clinker-building?
Answer
A Norse shipbuilding method where planks overlap and are riveted together, giving a hull that is light, strong, and flexible in rough seas.
Question
Who was Erik the Red and what did he do?
Answer
A Norse leader (c.950–1003) exiled from Iceland c.982 who explored and then led settlers to found the first Norse colony in Greenland c.985.
Question
Who was Leif Erikson and what did he do?
Answer
Erik the Red's son (c.970–1018) who led an expedition further west c.1000 CE, becoming the first known European to reach North America (Vinland).
Question
What are the Icelandic sagas, and why are they important but limited as sources?
Answer
Medieval Icelandic texts (e.g. Saga of Erik the Red) recording Norse exploration; important because they are the main surviving account, but limited because they were written down 200–250 years after the events from oral tradition.
Question
Process: how do you answer a Paper 1 Q1 (content) question well?
Answer
Identify specific content from BOTH sources, explain what each shows, and explicitly connect that content back to the inquiry question.
Question
Process: how do you analyse a source's context (Q2 skill)?
Answer
Consider its origin (who made it, what type of source), purpose (why it was made), and time/place — then explain how these shape what the source can reliably be used for.
Question
Why does timing matter when using a saga as a source for events in 982 CE?
Answer
Because it was recorded centuries later based on oral tradition, so it is more reliable for showing how later Norse society remembered events than for precise factual detail.
Question
What did Erik the Red name the island he settled, and why?
Answer
Greenland — a deliberately attractive name used to recruit settlers to a mostly ice-covered island.
Question
Compare push and pull factors in Norse exploration.
Answer
Push factors are problems at home driving people to leave (lack of arable land, population pressure); pull factors are attractions abroad (empty land, resources) that drew them onward.
Read the notes
Full study notes for Norse exploration — what prompted it
Topic 1.1 hub
Norse exploration (c.982–1020)
More from Topic 1.1
All flashcards in this topic
History (2028+) exam skills
Paper structures & tips
Track your progress with spaced repetition
Sign up free — Aimnova tells you exactly which cards to review and when, so you remember everything before your IB exam.
Start Free