Eleventh Century (Ethelred the Pious)

Greenland and Vinland
The century began with Leif Eriksson of Greenland's celebrated expedition for a good source of timber. He found it on a large island he called Vinland, OTL's Newfoundland. Word of Vinland spread to the Icelandic and English sailors who traveled in the North Atlantic. A number of settlement and raiding parties, led largely by landless younger sons of noblemen, from Iceland and England set out for Vinland. To be sure, they formed a trickle rather than a flood, but they turned the winter camps of Leif's woodchoppers into permanent homesteads and villages.

The Beothuk people of Vinland fought back against the Viking raids, but they were weakened by diseases that the newcomers brought. Many of the Beothuk communities began peacefully trading with the Vinlanders. Horses, sheep, and cattle were widespread among the Beothuk and on nearby islands by 1100.

Vinland's large northwestern peninsula was the area of densest Scandinavian settlement, while the largest Beothuk villages were in the Notre Dame Bay region. A few Norse settlements were also established on the south coast, on Anticost Island, and the tip of the Gaspé Peninsula.