In a message dated 1/14/01 8:54:14 PM Mountain Standard Time,
bpayne15@juno.com writes:
> Does anyone know the origin of the name "Greenland."
According to my Encarta, the name was given by Norse explorer Eric the Red in
the 980s. He found grasslands along the coast that he considered
colonizable, and went back home and persuaded people to come and settle.
Sounds like the name was in some sense an early case of real estate
advertising.
The geography is the same today; the ice is inland but the coastal areas
toward the South are ice-free and have some greenery. So if the suggestion
is that the Greenland ice sheet is of more recent origin and that humans once
saw it greener, that won't work.
But I bet if someone wrote down that suggestion somewhere, it would be
presented as fact in several YEC publications and websites within a few years
:-)
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Dr. Allan H. Harvey, Boulder, Colorado | SteamDoc@aol.com
"Any opinions expressed here are mine, and should not be
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