Helluland

According to official narrative, Helluland, currently called Baffin Island and presently located in the Nunavut Territory of Canada, was settled by us Norse over 1,000 years ago, about 200 years before the Inuits, and several hundred years before other Europeans (including the heavily publicized Franklin expedition, and thus the British, or the French for that matter).

Several of our ancient texts, together with our oral traditions, however, not only place Norðmenn (Norsemen) in Helluland much earlier than officially acknowledged, but also refer to the cultural and traditional significance of the island.

An important landmark of the region is indeed described as a mountain with a very distinct geological structure referred to in Norrœnt mál (Old Norse) as Áskunningr, which translates in English to “related to the Æsir” (aka Norse gods in popular and Abrahamized Anglophone culture). There are at least two accounts of the peak being considered a sacred site to enter unbreakable oaths (Eiðrinn) between regular Úlfhéðnar and Blendingar (hybrids). Even access to the mountain is clearly described through a fjord called “Leynifjörðr” (or “Hidden Fjord”) and a valley named “Leynigata” (Hidden Valley), running south/southeast to north/northeast, with the name probably referring to the passage not being the first and most obvious inland access by sea from the settlements of Grœnland (Greenland).

Today, the mountain is named Mount Thor, and the valley to access it, Akshayuk Pass, in Auyuittuq National Park, Nunavut, Canada.

More information about the area and its history can also be found at www.Helluland.com.