
Edited by William W. Fitzhugh
THE VIKINGS' TERRITORIAL EXPANSION from their Scandinavian homelands across the Atlantic to North America a thousand years ago stands as one of the world's most remarkable acheivements in the history of exploration. Between AD 750 to AD 1050 seaborn Viking warriors established trade networks from Baghdad to Greenland, introduced Christianity to Scandinavia, and settled the uninhabited North Atlantic islands. In about AD 1000 Leif Ericson brought his ship to shore in what is now northeastern Canada, becoming the first European to set foot in the New World.