Norse Greenland was the stepping stone for the Europeans who first discovered America and founded the Vinland settlement in Newfoundland. This volume is a comprehensive presentation of the community of 2000-3000 Viking peasants who lived on Arctic Greenland for over 400 years (ca. 985 - 1415). Norse agriculture in an Arctic environment met ecological challenges which they overcame with skills which demand respect. They adopted the west European church organisation with 12 parish churches, two monasteries and a bishop. Their main export was walrus ivory from which French and German artists made church art which still can be seen in the Louvre and other museums.

INTRODUCTION / 1 The problem / 2 Earlier research / 3 The contribution of this volume / CHAPTER I THE INITIAL SETTLEMENT IN AD 985/6 / 1 The Icelandic sagas as historical sources / 2 The first Greenlanders / 3 Conclusion / CHAPTER II POLITICAL ORGANISATION / 1 Ethnic identity / 2 Violence in a pre-state society / 3 Jurisdiction on pre state Greenland / 4 Financing state functions in the pre state period / 5 Ties to the Norwegian king before 1261 / 6 Attempts to organise a state administration after 1261/ CHAPTER III CHURCH AND RELIGION / 1 Christianisation / 2 Church organisation before the parish (AD 1000-1124) / 3 The parish 1124 - 1340 / 4 The Gardar diocese / 5 The monasteries / 6 The supernatural and the natural world / 7 The Greenland church in its final decades 1340-1410 / CHAPTER IV TRADE AND SHIPPING / 1 The imports / 2 The exports / 3 Quantifying trade and shipping to Norse Greenland / 4 Crossing the Greenland Ocean / 5 Overseas destinations / 6 Ships and boats / 7 The merchants / 8 The political framework for trade and shipping / CHAPTER V SUBSISTENCE FOOD PRODUCTION / 1 The basis: animal husbandry / 2 Providing fodder for domestic animals / 3 Animal husbandry in crisis? / 4 Hunting and fishing as flexible supplements / 5 The quality of the Norse Greenlanders' diet / 6 Norse and Inuit adaptation to the Greenland environment / 7 Did the last Norsemen die from starvation or undernourishment? / CHAPTER VI ONE LAND - TWO SOCIETIES / 1 Inuit attitude to violence / 2 Norse encounters with Inuit from beginning to end / 3 We found a rich land, but are not destined to enjoy it.