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- Key People:
- Helge Ingstad
- Related Places:
- Canada
- Newfoundland and Labrador
- Newfoundland
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L'Anse aux Meadows
L'Anse aux Meadows, Newfoundland island, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, designated a World Heritage site in 1978.
LāAnse aux Meadows
site, Newfoundland, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada
LāAnse aux Meadows, site on the northern tip of Newfoundland island, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, of the first known European settlement in the New World. Norse explorers established a large base there about the year 1000. From there they explored Atlantic Canada in several directions, reaching at least as far south as eastern New Brunswick. Most likely the site corresponds to Straumfjord (āFjord of Currentsā) in northern Vinland, as described in the EirĆks saga rauĆ°a (āErik the Redās Sagaā). The settlement was abandoned after just a few years, probably because the small mother colony in Greenland could not support such a faraway outpost. The site was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1978.
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