Brattahlíð

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Brattahlíð

Modern reconstruction of Thjodhild's church, with Tunulliarfik Fjord in the background (then called Eriksfjord)
Location of Brattahlíð in Greenland
Alternative name	Brattahlid
Location	5 km Southwest from Narsarsuaq, Greenland
Region	Greenland
Coordinates	61°09′08″N 45°30′54″W / 61.15222°N 45.51500°W / 61.15222; -45.51500
History
Associated with	Norsemen

Brattahlíð (Old Norse pronunciation:

Church

At Brattahlíð stood probably the first European church in the Americas: Þjóðhildarkirkja (Thjodhild's church, actually a small chapel). A recent reconstruction of this chapel now stands at a distance from the actual site, along with a replica of a Norse longhouse.

At the site of the main church, built after the Norse were converted to Christianity, investigators have found melted fragments of

.

Farm

One

airfield at Narsarsuaq, but today they exist mostly as depressions in the ground.

Brattahlíð still has some of the best farmland in Greenland, owing to its location at the inner end of

and a small store. More extensive facilities exist in Narsarsuaq across the fjord.

Assembly

Brattahlíð hosted the first Greenlandic

moving southward.

See also

• Qassiarsuk about the present settlement on the location
• Garðar, a bishopric seat founded in the 12th century close to Brattahlíð

References

1. ^ UNESCO World Heritage Centre. "Kujataa Greenland: Norse and Inuit Farming at the Edge of the Ice Cap". UNESCO World Heritage Centre. United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization. Retrieved 2021-07-30.

• Diamond, Jared, Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed (New York: Viking, 2005)
  ISBN 0-670-03337-5
• Ingstad, Helge (tr. Naomi Walford), Land under the Pole Star (New York: St. Martin's, 1966)
• Jones, Gwyn, The Norse Atlantic Saga (Oxford University Press, 1986)
  ISBN 0-19-215886-4

External links

"Brattahlid, Norse Greenland", Earth Observatory Picture of the Day (June 2, 2005), NASA.

An Old Captivity (1940) by Nevil Shute is a fictional account of an early aerial investigation of the old Norse settlement at Brattalid and of Leif Ericson's journey to North America in c 1000 AD.