SPEAKER SERIES: Friday Feb 21st 2pm Andrea Mckenzie

During the warm period known as the “medieval climatic optimum”, from c. 800-1250, Norse raiders (“Vikings”) dramatically expanded their range, exploring, conquering, and settling territories over a vast area — from the Mediterranean to Russia, the coasts of France to the Hebrides, Shetlands, Faroe Islands and Iceland, even establishing a brief foothold in “Vinland”, an area widely believed to be in modern Newfoundland. At its height in about 1200, the Norse colony in Greenland (established by Eric the Red in 1000) boasted a population of about 2,000. After about 1,300, in the wake of economic downturn, political disruptions, and cooling weather, the settlement declined. What were the reasons for this decline? Had the Norse Greenlanders been violently replaced or assimilated by the ancestors of the Inuit? Had they emigrated en masse, or succumbed to plague or some sudden disaster? Or did they slowly starved to death, the victims of overgrazing, “the Little Ice Age” (1300-1800) and their own stubborn inability to abandon European customs and practices? This talk will explore these and other
theories about this unsolved mystery, and propose some tentative conclusions.

Speaker Biography: Dr. Andrea McKenzie Dr. McKenzie was appointed Professor of History at UVic in 2004. She grew up in the Vancouver area and completed an undergraduate degree at UBC, a Master’s degree at York University, and a PhD at the University of Toronto. She lived and taught in Brisbane, Australia, for several years before taking up an appointment at the University of Victoria in 2004. Her research area is 17th and 18th century England, with a specialization in the social and cultural history of the law, trial, execution, and print culture (especially last dying speeches and confessions). Dr. McKenzie is a prolific publisher of books and articles in her area of interest. This also extends beyond her research interests as attested to by the topic of this presentation covering the presence of the “Vikings” in Greenland in the period 800 to 1250. In 2011, she won the University of Victoria’s Faculty of Humanities Award for Excellence in Teaching: a clear indication of her passion and proficiency as a lecturer and as a teacher.

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