The ancestors of modern Danes arrived in America over 1,000 years ago

U.S. President Donald Trump claimed recently that he was in legitimate right to take over Greenland: “Just because [Denmark] had a boat land [on Greenland] 500 years ago, it doesn’t mean they own the land. [..] I’m sure we had lots of boats go there also.”

If Trump cares to update his records on this topic, he’d learn that Vikings or Norse — forefathers of modern Danes and Norwegians — visited America numerous times much earlier than he could know. Those who chose to stay there can be called, in fact, the first European immigrants, if you let me use modern vocabulary.

Greenland as such used to be a re-supply and re-grouping base along those journeys.

L’Anse aux Meadows

For more than half a century, archaeologists have been certain that the first Europeans to reach the American continent — several hundred years before Christopher Columbus — were warriors from Scandinavian tribes, including Norse from modern-day Denmark.

Legends of Viking voyages beyond the Atlantic Ocean date back to a time when Europe had already grown accustomed to Scandinavian raids, but these accounts were never precisely dated. Now, scientists can not only prove the Vikings’ presence in North America, but can also identify the exact year in which they established their first settlements in the New World.

All of this is the result of research spanning 61 years. In 1960, a Norwegian couple, both archaeologists, discovered the foundations of eight large buildings in the village of L’Anse aux Meadows, in the Canadian province of Newfoundland. After a series of analyses, they concluded that the structures belonged to a Scandinavian people who had reached the northeastern shores of what is now Canada several centuries before Spanish explorers.

Since then, researchers have learned much about the newcomers’ way of life in their new homeland, their interactions with Indigenous peoples, and — using radiocarbon dating — have been able to estimate the age of the artifacts found and, by extension, the period when the settlement was established, roughly between the 8th and 11th centuries AD.

New calculations

The question “In which exact year?” remained unanswered — until recently. Thanks to advanced object-dating techniques, a team of scientists and archaeologists has now determined with precision that Norwegian Vikings were present at L’Anse aux Meadows in the year 1021, or more than 1,000 years ago — twice as earlier as Mr. Trump claims.

The researchers from Cornell University based their calculations, which were published in the journal Nature, on a cosmic radiation event that occurred in the year 993. Such phenomena are extremely rare — only five have been identified so far — and they are accompanied by a sudden increase in atmospheric carbon-14, which is absorbed by plants.

In each of three wooden artifacts carved by Vikings from different trees using metal tools, the researchers were able to identify the growth ring formed in the year of the solar storm. From that ring, they counted outward until reaching the outermost ring. In all three samples, the count was 28, indicating that the artifacts were made in the year 1021.

The fact that objects from three different trees converge on the same year is both unexpected and remarkable, and this convergence strongly suggests Norse activity near L’Anse aux Meadows in 1021, the study’s authors said. This is the first clear evidence of exactly when Europeans arrived in North America.

Until now, some scholars had relied on oral accounts — the sagas — which were written down only about 200 years after the events they describe, in the 13th century.

Vikings out, Inuit in

Researchers believe the Vikings intended to use the small settlement as a temporary base for newcomers arriving from Scandinavia. In total, four to six expeditions may have been undertaken before the warriors ultimately abandoned the region altogether.

According to Icelandic mythology, the Vikings gave up their plans to conquer America in favor of more profitable raids in Europe, due to internal conflicts and clashes with indigenous populations in the area, particularly the Inuit.

Medieval texts confirm that other Europeans were aware that the Norse had crossed the Atlantic, but they are highly ambiguous regarding the timing.

The authors of the study note that cosmic radiation events can serve as precise time markers for dating many major historical developments, such as the reigns of ancient rulers, population migrations, and invasions.

Canadian authorities have reconstructed part of the Viking/Norse dwellings in Newfoundland for cultural and tourism purposes, and the site is now part of the UNESCO World Heritage list.

Taken together, the archaeological record leaves little room for debate: Europeans crossed the Atlantic and established a foothold in North America a full millennium ago, long before the age of modern nation-states or contemporary geopolitical claims.

These journeys were not symbolic or accidental landings, but repeated, organized expeditions supported by settlements and logistical bases such as Greenland and L’Anse aux Meadows. History, in this case, is not a matter of interpretation or rhetoric, but of datable evidence embedded in wood, soil, and DNA.

Who must decide?

From a contemporary legal and ethical standpoint, however, debates over who arrived first are largely irrelevant to the question of sovereignty or resource control. Historical presence — whether Viking, Danish, or otherwise — does not confer automatic or perpetual rights under modern international law.

What does matter is the will of Greenland’s current residents, an overwhelming majority of whom are Inuit. Today, Greenland is a self-governing territory of around 57,000 people with its own elected institutions, and international norms are clear that questions concerning political status, governance, and the use of natural resources should be guided by the principle of self-determination.

This means that decisions about Greenland’s future — economic partnerships, resource extraction, or potential changes in political alignment — must reflect the preferences and interests of the people who actually live there, not of leaders from other countries.