Furs, Fish, and Ivory: Medieval Norsemen at the Arctic Fringe
Furs, Fish, and Ivory: Medieval Norsemen at the Arctic Fringe
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毛皮、鱼和象牙：北极边缘的中世纪挪威人
DOI：
10.3721/037.003.0105
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发表时间：
2010
期刊：
影响因子：
56.9
通讯作者：
C. Keller
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
C. Keller
摘要
为什么北欧冰岛人在公元10世纪末殖民格陵兰岛，为什么他们要探索拉布拉多和纽芬兰的海岸？这是在已知世界的边缘不顾一切地寻找农田，还是应用于亚北极地区的市场驱动的经济战略？为了解决这些问题，作者简要介绍了斯堪的纳维亚半岛北部的萨米人领土、斯堪的纳维亚半岛以东的芬兰和俄罗斯领土以及北大西洋西部的格陵兰和拉布拉多三个地区的北欧扩张和经济战略。斯堪的纳维亚半岛北部和东部扩张的目的是从狩猎采集社区购买或勒索毛皮。如果没有欧洲甚至中东对毛皮的需求，这一战略是不可想象的，而且通常必须被视为市场驱动的。作者认为，北欧人对拉布拉多的探索和对格陵兰的殖民都是由市场驱动的，海象象牙是最成功的出口商品。12世纪，北欧经济从北欧海盗时期的高地位奢侈品贸易转变为低地位的大宗食品贸易。北方的河豚换来了南方的粮食。挪威的河豚出口始于公元1100年左右，而冰岛的出口始于近一个世纪之后。这一转变对挪威和冰岛的经济都造成了结构性变化，肯定也影响了挪威的格陵兰经济。作者建议，在研究中占主导地位的区域和国家调查应辅之以北欧对北欧海盗和中世纪现金和贸易经济的研究，这些研究涵盖从收购到消费的各个阶段。
Abstract
Why did the Norse Icelanders colonize Greenland in the late tenth century A.D., and why did they explore the coasts of Labrador and Newfoundland? Was it a desperate search for farmland at the margins of the known world, or was it a market-driven economic strategy applied to sub-arctic territory? To address these questions, the author gives a brief introduction to the Norse expansion and economic strategies in three regions: the Sami territory in Northern Scandinavia, the Finnish and Russian territories east of Scandinavia, and Greenland and Labrador in the western North Atlantic. The purpose of the expansion north and east of Scandinavia was to buy or extort furs from the hunter-gatherer communities. This strategy is unthinkable without a European and even Middle Eastern demand for furs, and must generally be seen as market-driven. The author suggests that the Norse explorations of Labrador and the colonization of Greenland was equally market driven, with walrus tusks as the most successful export commodity. In the twelfth century, the Norse economy transformed from a Viking Period high-status trade with luxury articles to a low-status bulk trade with foodstuffs. Stockfish from the north was exchanged for grain from the south. Norwegian stockfish export started ca. 1100 A.D., while Iceland commenced almost a century later. This shift caused structural changes to both Norwegian and Icelandic economies, and must also have affected the Norse Greenland economy. The author recommends that the regional and national investigations that have dominated the research be supplemented with North European studies of the Viking and Medieval cash and trade economies, spanning from acquisition to consumption.