Nordic colonialism

The arrival of Leif Erikson, of Iceland, in the Americas occurred 500 years before Christopher Columbus, and it was unintentional, as it was said that his ship was blown off-course on the way to Greenland.

[1][4] In the 14th and 15th centuries, many Finns settled Finnmark and Meänmaa, migrating from Southern Finland to populate the region.

The Finns who had migrated to New Sweden were petty criminals, they were offered a reduced sentence for doing hard manual labour in the colony.

[8] Finnish settlers, particularly Forest Finns, were culturally important to the early colonization of Appalachia, Idaho, and elsewhere in the United States.

[12][4] Norwegians controlled the company Société du Madal in Portuguese Mozambique, which owned coconut plantations and a palm oil factory.

Child laborers on Madal's properties were paid in rotgut spirits, as was common for many companies operating in Mozambique during the colonial period.

[14] As an independent state in modern days, Norway occupied Erik the Red's Land on Greenland from 1931 to 1933.

Examples include the Norwegian Colony in California, Marburg in South Africa, Joinville in Brazil, and Norsewood in New Zealand.

Overall, the Swedish impact on the new world was not as influential as that of the British, Spanish, and Portuguese; however they retained political, cultural, and economic influence over many colonies.

Now called Delaware, New Sweden stood to make a considerable profit due to tobacco growth.

The medieval Norwegians colonized much of the Atlantic, including Iceland, Greenland, and the Faroe Islands, which were later inherited as colonies by Denmark–Norway.