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In this Bonus episode, hosts Valur Gunnarsson and Jón Trausti Sigurðarson discuss the president elect Donald Trump's recent remarks that the USA should acquire Greenland.

Greenland and Iceland are not members of the EU but are on the front lines as disputes erupt between NATO states. We dive into the history of the Danish Empire, ponder the connotations of Trump's remarks and what they may mean for Greenland, its next door neighbour Iceland, for Denmark, the EU and NATO.

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WHO ARE WE?
The Reykjavík Grapevine is an alternative monthly magazine, bringing you all the news and views on Icelandic society, music, travel, culture and more. Grapevine.is #rvkgrapevine

Hosted by historians and The Reykjavík Grapevine founders Valur Gunnarsson and Jón Trausti Sigurðarson

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Icelanders discovered America, and lost it again. Or did they? How long did the Viking voyages to the new continent last? How did the first longship vs. canoe battle go? And where - and what- was the legendary Vinland that the Sagas speak of?

Hosted by historians and Grapevine founders Valur Gunnarsson and Jón Trausti Sigurðarson this episode features an interview on the subject with History Professor Sverrir Jakobsson.

The likeness of Leifur Eriksson in front of Hallgrímskirkja is probably the most photographed statue in the most photographed spot in all of Iceland. And yet Leifur’s appearance in the Sagas is somewhat underwhelming.

In the Saga of the Greenlanders, he’s not even the man who discovers North America for the Vikings. Instead, the story goes that one Bjarni Herjólfsson accidentally stumbled across the continent upon getting lost en route to visiting Erik the Red (Leifur’s dad) in Greenland.

Valur Gunnarsson and Jón Trausti Sigurðarson — a historian and a history nerd, respectively — delve into the saga and the reality of how Icelanders found North America and then lost it. Did that actually happen? How long did Viking voyages to the new world continue? How about that longship v. canoe battle? And where even is the legendary Vinland that the Sagas speak of?

Hosted by historians and The Reykjavík Grapevine founders Valur Gunnarsson and Jón Trausti Sigurðarson

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The Last Viking Mystery: Erik the Red; the worst neighbour in history

The Vikings sailed across the North Atlantic, from Norway to Iceland to Greenland and all the way to North America. They only stayed for a few years in the New World but in Iceland, their descendants live to this day. In Greenland, however, a Norse colony survived and even thrived for almost five hundred years.

Then, at around the time Europeans were re-discovering North America for themselves, the Greenland Norse mysteriously disappeared. What happened? No one knows, but we will try to find out. Our story begins here in Iceland, where Eric the Red once lived and had a habit of getting into trouble with the neighbours.

Hosted by historians and The Reykjavík Grapevine founders Valur Gunnarsson and Jón Trausti Sigurðarson