The first voyage to America, of which we have any account, was performed
by Northmen. But who were the Northmen?
The Northmen were the descendants of a race that in early times migrated
from Asia and traveled towards the north, finally settling in what is
now the kingdom of Denmark. From thence they overran Norway and Sweden,
and afterwards colonized Iceland and Greenland. Their language was the
old Danish (_Dönsk túnga_) once spoken all over the north,[20] but which
is now preserved in Iceland alone, being called the Icelandic or old
North,[21] upon which is founded the modern Swedish, Danish and Norse
or Norwegian.
After the Northmen had pushed on from Denmark to Norway, the condition
of public affairs gradually became such that a large portion of the
better classes found their life intolerable. In the reign of Harold
Harfagr (the Fair-haired), an attempt was made by the king to deprive
the petty jarls of their ancient udal or feudal rights, and to usurp all
authority for the crown. To this the proud jarls would not submit; and,
feeling themselves degraded in the eyes of their retainers, they
resolved to leave those lands and homes which they could now hardly call
their own. Whither, then, should they go?