Yes, when I first studied history I was told that the Vikings misnamed them Iceland and Greenland because they wanted to discourage settlers from coming to one of them, and encourage them to come to the other.
I had heard it as the Vikings called the one island Iceland, and then realized it was bad advertising to get colonists, and decided to lie about the next island, calling it “Greenland” to avoid the bad name. After all, I’d rather stay at the all-inclusive adults only Cancun resort than a crappy Knight’s Inn in Moose Jaw Saskatchewan.
In any event, I think that story is an historical fable. It didn’t take into account historical climate change. In 980 A.D., Greenland was in fact quite green. There was still an ice cap inland, but there was a substantial habitable zone along the coast. Nice pine forests, too.
The story goes that Erik the Red named Greenland that to attract settlers...he figured that the name Iceland had discouraged Norsemen from going there. False advertising. Ripe for a class-action lawsuit if their society had been overrun with lawyers.
The story goes that Erik the Red named Greenland that to attract settlers...he figured that the name Iceland had discouraged Norsemen from going there. False advertising. Ripe for a class-action lawsuit if their society had been overrun with lawyers.