Skírnir - 01.04.2004, Page 88

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GUÐMUNDUR J. GUÐMUNDSSON
SKÍRNIR
Sturlungasaga I. Kristján Eldjárn og Magnús Jónsson sáu um útgáfuna (Reykjavík,
1945).
Vebæk, C.L., „Hunting on Land and at See. Fishing in Medieval Norse Green-
land“, Acta Borealia 1 (1991), bls. 5-14.
Þorkell Jóhannesson, „Atvinnuhagir á íslandi fram um siðskipti“, Lýðir og lands-
hagir I (Reykjavík, 1965), bls. 38-67.
Summary
This article discusses the medieval Greenland trade, emphasizing the country’s ex-
port and modes of communication with other countries. The Norse Greenlanders’
main export consisted of luxury articles such as walrus ivory, narwhal horns and
white fur of snow hare, polar fox and polar bear. Occasionally they also exported
live polar bears. Part of these goods was never sold on an open market but rather
used by the Norwegian crown and church as gifts to foreign kings and other
dignitaries. The article also raises the question whether the Norse Greenlanders
exported white falcons, woollen goods ('vaðmál) and, in the 14* century, stockfish,
like the Icelanders and the Faeroese. Professor Helgi Guðmundsson has put for-
ward the hypothesis that Breiðafjörður, in the western part of Iceland, was an
important link in the Greenland trade, not only connecting the country to
Norway but also to the British Isles. This hypothesis is discussed and also the
possibility that stockfish export from Greenland in the 14* century put an end to
this activity and made direct sailing between Greenland and Norway the sole
mode of communication in the 14* century.