# Why Viking Life Was Brutal

## Метаданные

- **Канал:** Thoughty2
- **YouTube:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RdYITPJ9Oz4
- **Дата:** 06.05.2026
- **Длительность:** 2:54
- **Просмотры:** 25,750

## Описание

Things in Greenland were going well. Until they weren’t.

With enough greenery to feed livestock, navigable trade routes, and walrus ivory selling like hot cakes, this growing civilization were living the good life.
Then, around 1300, the ‘Little Ice Age’ took hold. Harsh winters and unpredictable summers wreaked havoc on a country reliant on farming, but there was more trouble to come…

New trade routes opened up, meaning Europe now had alternative (and much cheaper) ivory options – Russian walruses… African elephants… they were spoilt for choice.

But worse was yet to come. In 1349 the Black Death hit Norway, wiping out 60% of its population. The population of Bergen was depleted in just six months, which, as Greenland’s primary trading partner, was disastrous for this already-struggling colony.

## Содержание

### [0:00](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RdYITPJ9Oz4) Segment 1 (00:00 - 02:00)

In Greenland, grass grew in the fjords, livestock could graze, and the sea routes to Europe were navigable for much of the year. But something happened around the year 1300 that changed everything for this budding civilization. Winters grew longer and harsher, and summers became shorter and less predictable. It was the onset of what we now call the Little Ice Age, a period of dramatic cooling that gripped the Northern Hemisphere for the next few centuries. Average temperatures in Greenland dropped by about 1 degree. That might not sound all that much, but for a farming society that was already clinging to existence at the limits of what was agriculturally possible, it was just enough to break the warrus's back. One of the major problems was that the settlers relied on cows for food and lever and sheep for wool. However, with the growing season getting shorter, they couldn't produce enough hay and had to keep livestock indoors for longer periods. So, it was only a matter of years before this vicious cycle created an untenable situation. But if the North settlers thought this was the biggest of their problems, they had another thing coming. Because whilst Greenland was freezing, something even more catastrophic was happening thousands of miles away. The bottom was falling out of the ivory market. Although they traded many things, walrus ivy had always been Greenland's golden ticket to success. It was the one thing that Europe desperately wanted and couldn't get enough of, allowing the settlers to basically import as many essential supplies from Europe as they desired in return. But in the 13th and 14th centuries, trade routes began opening up that gave European merchants access to Russian waruses and increasingly African elephants. Both of these sources provided ivory significantly cheaper than the equivalent products from Greenland. And then just to cap it all off, when the Greenland settlers thought the situation couldn't get any worse, it arrived on their doorstep. The Black Death, but not in the way you might expect. There is no historical evidence that the Black Death ever reached Greenland. Even though the colony regularly traded with Europe and the plague was typically passed on ships via rats infested with plague ridden fleas, it might not have found its way to Greenland, but it certainly hit Norway. An estimated 60% of the Norwegian population perished during the plague of the 14th century. What's more, this mass Norwegian die-off happened over the course of just 6 months during the winter of 1349. Unfortunately for the Greenland settlement, the Black Death absolutely devastated Bergen in Norway, which was Greenland's primary trading partner. Many trading agreements that Greenland had spent decades, even multiple generations, establishing were essentially wiped out within a matter of months.

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*Источник: https://ekstraktznaniy.ru/video/49927*