Great Ireland facts for kids

Great Ireland (also known as White Men's Land) was a mysterious place that Norse explorers talked about a long time ago. They believed it was located somewhere near Vinland, which is what they called parts of North America. Some stories said the people there wore white clothes and made loud noises. Others described them as having hair and skin as white as snow.

Experts and writers today have different ideas about Great Ireland. Some think it was just a myth, a story based on old tales of lands far out in the western ocean. Others believe it might have been a real place in North America.

History of Great Ireland

Ancient Stories and Legends

Long ago, people from Ireland had their own legends about a magical land across the western ocean. They called it by different names, like the Celtic Otherworld. An ancient scholar named Procopius even wrote that this Otherworld was west of Britain.

Another old writer, Plutarch, described a land called Ogygia that was a five-day sail from Britain. He also mentioned a "Great Continent" further west. For many centuries, people called the ocean beyond Iceland the "Cronian Sea," adding to the mystery of these western lands.

Irish stories from the 6th and 7th centuries tell of priests like Saint Brendan who supposedly sailed far into the western ocean. These tales are often seen as myths. Later, in the 1300s, a man named Jacob Cnoyen heard a story from a priest in Norway. This priest claimed his family were descendants of people sent by the legendary King Arthur to settle distant lands. This shows how old legends mixed with new explorations.

Norse Explorers' Encounters

Norse sagas, which are old stories about Viking voyages, mention Great Ireland. These sagas give us clues about what the Norse thought of this land.

Ari Marsson's Journey

According to the Landnámabók (a book about the settlement of Iceland), a man named Ari Marsson discovered this land. It happened around the year 983. He sailed six days west of Ireland.

The saga says: "Their son was Ari, who drifted to White Men's Land, which some people call Greater Ireland. It lies in the ocean to westward, near Vineland the Good. Ari couldn't get away, and was baptized there." People in Orkney even claimed that Ari was recognized in White Man's Land and was highly respected there.

Greenland's Old Records

The Annals of Greenland, an old Norse record from the 11th century, also talks about this land. It says: "Next to Vinland the Good and a little beyond lies Albania, which is Hvitramannaland. Irishmen and Icelanders recognized Ari, son of Mar... who became a chieftain of the land." This suggests a connection between the Irish and this mysterious land.

Stories from Markland

The Saga of Erik the Red mentions White Men's Land too. It tells how Thorfinn Karlsefni and his crew found five Skraelings (native people) in Markland (likely Labrador or Newfoundland). They captured two children and taught them their language.

The children described a land across from theirs. They said the people there "were dressed in white garments, uttered loud cries, bore long poles, and wore fringes." The Norse thought this sounded like Hvitramannaland (White Man's Land).

Gudleif Gudlaugson's Adventure

In the Eyrbyggja saga, a man named Gudleif Gudlaugson tried to sail from Dublin to Iceland. But his ship was blown off course, far out into the ocean. They finally reached a large, unknown land.

The people there spoke Irish. Hundreds of them came to attack the Norsemen. But then, a leader who spoke Icelandic saved them. This leader asked about people in Iceland and gave Gudleif gifts to deliver. He didn't say who he was, but the Norse later thought he was Bjorn the Breidavik-Champion, an Icelander who had been exiled about 30 years earlier.

Some people believe this story describes an encounter with Great Ireland, even though the saga doesn't say it directly. This voyage likely happened in 1029.

Where Was Great Ireland?

Historians and researchers have many ideas about where Great Ireland might have been.

Kirsten Seaver thought it was a fabled country. She believed the idea came from Icelanders' fading memories of lands far out in the western ocean.

Carl Christian Rafn suggested Great Ireland was in Chesapeake Bay in what is now the United States. He based this on Shawnee Native American legends. These legends spoke of "white men who used iron instruments," which Rafn connected to the Norse descriptions of people carrying poles.

Other ideas place Great Ireland in Newfoundland, Canada. Author Farley Mowat believed it was on the western shore of Newfoundland, near St. George's Bay. He thought it might have been settled by Papar, who were Irish monks who fled from Iceland and then Greenland to escape Norse invaders.

More recent research, like that by Fridtjof Nansen in 1911, suggests that Hvítramannaland (White Man's Land) was purely a mythological country. They think it was based on how the Norse understood Irish myths about geography during the Viking Age.