[1]: p.159–170  After the end of Roman rule in Britain, unrest and military threats to Alba from the Scoti in the west and the Vikings in the north resulted in widespread settlement of Iceland by fleeing Albans during the 5th to 7th centuries .

In search of new sources of ivory, Alban hunters explored the coasts of Greenland,[1]: p.171  Baffin Island,[1]: p.210–221  Ungava Bay,[1]: p.264–282  and Labrador[1]: p.283–292  before discovering Newfoundland.

On first arrival in Iceland, Viking explorers like Naddodd,[1]: p.225–229  Hrafna-Flóki Vilgerðarson,[1]: p.232–236  Garðar Svavarsson[1]: p.229–232  and Ingólfr Arnarson[1]: p.237–250  took refuge in some of the most inhospitable places, as if the land was inhabited by a hostile population.

With both suitable land for crofting and a large walrus population, this would have drawn Alban settlers, hunters and European traders southwards from southwestern Greenland and central Labrador.

The resulting decline in these areas meant that when Vikings first started appearing off the Greenland coast at the end of the tenth century, it prompted a rapid and third large scale move of Albans, this time to Newfoundland.

[1]: p.362–377 Mowat suggests that the Albans continued to live in southwestern Newfoundland for several centuries, keeping a tenuous link to Europe through trade and clerical visits through the early Middle Ages.

A literary gadfly for much of his long career, Mowat is happy to stir up debate and challenge academics to match the visions that he champions and defends with such vigour and relish.

"[3] Richard Ellis of The New York Times stated that "The Farfarers is worth reading, if for no other reason than to experience a provocative, alternative version of history, written by a master storyteller.

[4]" Stuart C. Brown of the Department of Anthropology, Memorial University stated that "As any competent archaeologist will tell you, in prehistory few things are impossible -- so Mowat's hypothesis cannot be simply dismissed out of hand.