Research - The Vikings "Discover" America

Here are some notes from my research on the Viking's discovery of North America:

• First European race to discover America – about 500 years before Columbus (years 1000-1)
• They named America “Newfoundland”
• They found the land so inviting that they stayed through the winter before returning to Greenland.
• The leader of the expedition was Leif Eriksson. He named it Vinland after the wild grapes he found there. His success enticed others to conduct their own expeditions, including his brother Thorvald (who was later killed there in a skirmish with the native Americans)
• Leif’s camp (of 8 houses arranged in 3 complexes in L’Anse aux Meadows) was used for about 15 years but never became a colony.
• The houses were wooden frameworks overlain with sod walls and roofs, fireplaces in the center of each house.
• Leif named the surrounding areas “Helluland” (Rocky land/land of flat stones), “Markland” (land of forests) and “Vinland” (land of grapes/wine/meadows)
• While voyages, for example to fetch timber, were likely to have occurred for some time, there is no evidence of enduring Norse settlements on mainland North America
• Leif sailed some 1800 miles to America with a crew of 35
• He had to return to Greenland to take over his father’s estate after his death and was never to return
• Settlements were aimed to exploit natural resources such as furs and lumber
• It appears that sporadic voyages for resources and trade with the natives could have lasted as long as 400 years but it is unclear why the short-term settlements did not become permanent
• The Kensington Runestone found in Alexandria, Minnesota
• The Smithy was under a mound of hill, similar to hobbit’s houses in LOTR

Imagine if the Vikings had set up a permanent colony in North America during this time. America would be so different now - there'd be hints of Viking design everywhere and perhaps the country would have been more advanced (Scandinavia today is still considered to be comprised of some of the world's leading countries in terms of development/design/education/politics/currency/happiness etc).

I'd probably want to set my game after the 1000's, well after the "colony" was set up. Maybe I'd set my story in the Civil War and Industrial era so that the Viking influence in America can be very apparent.