The lost Western Settlement of the Vikings

The Western Settlement (Old Norse: Vestribyggð) was a group of farms and communities established by Norsemen from Iceland around 985 in medieval Greenland. The Western Settlement was more north than west of its companion Eastern Settlement and was located at the head of the long Nuup Kangerlua fjord, near present-day Nuuk. Much less is known about the Western Settlement than the Eastern Settlement, as there is very little mention and no direct description of it in any of the medieval sources on Greenland. At its peak, the Western Settlement probably had about 1,000 inhabitants, about a fourth the size of the Eastern Settlement, owing to its shorter growing season. Ruins of almost 95 farms have been found in the area.