The Icelandic Canadian - 01.06.1961, Side 47

THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
45
fully written—saw the contact with 'the
western world maintained. Bjorn riki
visited Greenland in the middle
of the century. Didrik Pining spent
much time there. And towards the end
of the century one meets with two of
the most baffling problems in history.
1) Did Columbus learn much concern-
ing the western lands from his visit to
Iceland in 1477? 2)What voyages did
the Portuguese make to America be-
tween 1470 and 1500 on the ships of the
king of Denmark? There is no doubt
that very close relations existed be-
tween the courts of Denmark and
Portugal at ‘this time.
In the sixteenth century commun-
ications between Greenland and Scan-
dinavia were broken off, although Jon
Greenlander landed in Greenland in
1542. Why communications were sever-
ed is not known but it may be that it
was now possible for the Greenlanders
to trade with Europeans in Labrador
and Newfoundland and that this trade
wias more profitable for the Green-
landers than trade with the Bergen
monopoly. Too, political affairs were
in a disturbed state in Scandinavia
during this century. However, the
enterprising spirit of the Viking was
not dead. It is this century which first
brings Scandinavian literature and hi-
story to the full attention of other
European scholars. The efforts of vari-
ous Scandinavians in the fields of
cosmography and cartography were to
a considerable extent responsible for
a renewed desire on the part of Danish
kings to re-establish communications
with Greenland and the western lands.
In the seventeenth century the Jens
Munk expedition, attempting this,
ended tragically on the site of present
day Churchill, only the leader and
three men surviving. Contact was not
to be re-established until the following
century in which begins the full scale
penetration of the Arctic to which no
peoples have made greater contri-
butions than the descendants of the
old Vikings. Any summary of these can
dwell only on outstanding individuals
and many who deserve mention must
be omitted.
In the eighteenth century two names
certainly stand out. One is that of Hans
Egede known as the Apostle of Green-
land. Largely by his own efforts, and in
the face of official inertia, he not only
established contact with Greenland but
also founded there a colony which has
endured to this day. The spirit in
which he worked has lived on and still
makes the Danish administration of
Greenland in many ways a model of
what colonial administration should
ibe—the colony regarded as a trust to
be managed for the benefit of the na-
tives. Egede built well and his work
has endured. The other great example
of the Viking Spirit in action is the
Dane, Vitus Bering, whose persistence,
thoroughness, courage and endurance
are immortalized in the sea which bears
his name.
The nineteenth and twentieth cen-
turies are studded with the names of
intrepid men whose exploits reflect
lustre on their native lands and also
prove conclusively that the Viking
Spirit still lives in all its pristine
vigour. In Greenland the Danes de-
serve great credit for ‘their work in
advancing our knowledge of the Arc-
tic. The work done by them has made
Greenland the best known of all Arctic
lands, and their archeological work
there and in all of Arctic America is
doing much to make it possible at some
future date to solve one of the most
baffling of all problems of the north—
the origin of the Eskimo and their cul-
ture. Hundreds of individuals have
worked at increasing our knowledge
of this and other Arctic matters, but