From Baird Maritime
A very well researched and interesting account of the early explorations, plundering, trading and settlement of the north Atlantic Ocean to the north and west of the British Isles.
Some amazingly adventurous voyages were undertaken in a variety of quite small boats. First, the Irish monks in the seventh and eighth centuries AD explored, settled and proselytized in the Hebrides, Orkneys, Shetlands and Faroes until their descendants were driven out a century or so later by the Norsemen.
That led on, via a similar leap-frogging process, to the Irish discovery and eventual Viking settlement of Iceland. The Irish arrived there, believe it or not, in 795 AD. They didn't stay long but the word inevitably got around.
In enormous detail the author explains how, over the next six centuries, settlement extended, via Iceland, to Greenland and eventually Vinland. The trade and knowledge thus obtained led on to the rapid development in navigational and naval architectural techniques that facilitated the subsequent exploration and settlement of the wider world by Europeans.
An enlightening and very comprehensive book.
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