"Northern Mists"

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses and analyzes Carl O. Sauer's book "Northern Mists" in which he advances and argues the theory that the Norse country of "Vinland" was in reality part of Southern New England. Carl Sauer was a respected geographer and historian and "Northern Mists" is a well-known and cited commentary discussing the geographic history of "Vinland" and how the Northern Europeans discovered North America. The paper looks at the overall message the author is trying to convey, and how he manages to communicate it to his readers.

From the Paper:

"Why did the Norse look for new lands? Sauer seems to answer this himself when he compares their country to the lovely country of New England. "The bleak and windswept Strait of Belle Isle (through which I once passed in early July) bears no resemblance to the gracious country of deciduous woodlands and grapevines of Vinland, bordered by wide tidal flats" (Sauer). He also attributes their exploration to changes in climate in Northern Europe, which drove them to look for a climate that was warmer and less hospitable as time went on. "There is evidence, discovered in Scandinavia and northern Britain, that the climate of northern Europe was milder in the tenth and eleventh centuries, became more extreme in the thirteenth, and ameliorated in or after the fifteenth" (Sauer)."

More papers on "Northern Mists":

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• Book Review # 101581 : "T. R.Berger's "Northern Frontier, Northern Homeland"
• Research Paper # 61390 : "Northern Ireland"

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