HIST 100 Cuyamaca College The Viking Prelude and Fugues Questions
Collapse, chapters 6, 7, & 8
Reading Questions on the Norse
Chapter 6: The Viking Prelude and FuguesWhy did the Vikings begin to leave their home in Scandinavia during the age of the Viking breakout? Where did they go?What is unique about the geography of Iceland? What challenges did the Vikings face in Iceland and what impact did they have on the environment there?Where is Vinland? Why did the Vikings abandon their settlements there?
Chapter 7: Norse Greenland’s FloweringWhere in Greenland did the Norse settle? How has the climate changed in Greenland? (Note: This is not referring to what is happening nowadays.)Describe the agricultural and economic life of the Greenland Norse.Why does Diamond argue that the self-identity of the Greenland Norse contributed to their downfall? (Remember that after around the year 1000 the Norse had converted to Christianity.)
Chapter 8: Norse Greenland’s EndHow, specifically, did the Norse damage their environment?How did the Inuit develop a sustainable way of life in Greenland? Give specifics.Describe Inuit-Norse relations.Explain two or more factors that led to the collapse of the Greenland Norse.Paper Assignment: The Norse Collapse
Write a 2.5 – to 3-page paper on the question below. Only use information from Jared Diamond’s Collapse. Your paper should include a minimum of six citations (at least two each from chapters 6, 7, and 8 of Collapse).Why did the Norse begin to migrate away from their homeland? What geographical challenges did they face as they settled islands in the North Atlantic like Iceland and Greenland? What was economic and agricultural life like for the Greenland Norse? Why did the Inuit survive in Greenland while the Norse went into collapse? Citations are needed for both quotes and specific references.Example 1: Diamond points out that deforestation left the Norse with lumber shortages so they “came to depend on three sources of timber: Siberian driftwood washed up on the beaches, imported logs from Norway, and trees felled by the Greenlanders themselves on voyages to the Labrador coast (“Markland”) discovered in the course of the Vinland explorations.” (249).Example 2: Diamond points out that deforestation put the Norse in a position where they had to rely on Siberian driftwood, imported logs from Norway, and logging trips to Markland on the Labrador coast.” (249).In the first example, I quoted Diamond directly. In the second example, I conveyed the information by paraphrasing. I still need a citation to let the reader know where the information came from.
