The Farfarers: Before the Norse by Farley Mowat
"The Farfarers: Before the Norse" by Farley Mowat explores the possibility of pre-Columbian exploration and settlement in North America, focusing on a group he refers to as the "Albans." Mowat traces their origins to the Celtic invasion of northern Europe and suggests that these earlier inhabitants, including the Picts and creators of Stonehenge, developed an advanced maritime culture. He theorizes that the Albans constructed ocean-going boats made from hides, enabling them to migrate to Greenland, Iceland, Newfoundland, and Labrador long before the Norse arrived.
Mowat supports his claims with references to ancient maps and historical accounts, proposing that the Albans, following wildlife migrations for resources, were the first to inhabit Iceland. He suggests that they were eventually displaced by the Norse and the aggressive Thule people, ancestors of modern Inuit, leading to their gradual retreat into Newfoundland. The book also discusses the potential remnants of the Albans in the contemporary population of Newfoundland, particularly among a group known as the Jakatars.
While Mowat's narrative is rich in speculation and draws on both historical and fictional elements, it has faced criticism for lacking rigorous scholarly evidence, with some scholars deeming his conclusions overly radical. Nevertheless, Mowat presents a compelling reflection on a "vanished people" and their maritime legacy.
The Farfarers: Before the Norse by Farley Mowat
Excerpted from an article in Magill’s Survey of World Literature, Revised Edition
First published: 1998
Type of work: Nonfiction
The Work
In The Farfarers: Before the Norse, Mowat revisits a theme he previously discussed in Westviking: The Ancient Norse in Greenland and North America (1965) and The Curse of the Viking Grave (1966): the pre-Columbian exploration and settlement of North America. He begins with the Celtic invasion of northern Europe in the seventh century b.c.e., when the Celtics killed, drove out, or enslaved the people who were already there. Mowat names these earlier people the “Albans” and cites as examples the Aquitainians, the Picts, and the builders of Stonehenge. He speculates that the Albans eventually fled to the Orkney and Shetland islands off northern Scotland. He further theorizes that they developed a maritime culture that used advanced oceangoing fishing boats with hulls made of hides, rather than wood. Mowat calls these boats “farfarers,” which, he says, enabled the Albans to sail to and eventually colonize Greenland, Iceland, Newfoundland, and Labrador.
Mowat observes that Iceland appears on ancient maps centuries before it was discovered and settled by the Norse. He argues that the Albans got there first because they were following the walrus herds to harvest their ivory. His sources include the Norse historians, who mention that the Norse found people on Iceland, and the Greek explorer Pytheas, who sailed from the Mediterranean to Iceland around 330 b.c.e. Mowat argues that the Norse eventually drove out the Albans, who drifted to Greenland. A few generations later, the Norse followed them to Greenland and from there to North America. Unfortunately, the Albans could not roam further west because the aggressive Thule people, a Native American nation who were the ancestors of the modern Inuit, were moving into the area as well.
On an expedition to northern Canada in 1966, Mowat saw low stone walls in northern Quebec, which, after a visit to the Orkney Islands, he concluded provided a foundation for upturned boats to be used as winter dwellings on the beaches there. While in the Orkneys, he had observed such structures still in use. He also cites the similarity of stone structures found in North America and the British Isles. He then argues that the Albans settled Newfoundland after they were pushed out of Labrador by the Thule and the Norse. Finally, Mowat speculates that the Albans were gradually driven into the interior of Newfoundland by the English and French in the seventeenth century and that a group of Newfoundlanders known as the Jakatars, thought to be a mixture of French and Native American ancestry, might actually be the last genetically distinct Albans. Otherwise, the Albans disappeared into the gene pools of other peoples.
Some scholars dismissed Mowat’s theory, charging that the book was highly provisional and that Mowat drew radical conclusions from limited evidence. Some people also disqualified the book as a scholarly work because Mowat included fictional passages to describe the Albans. For his part, Mowat acknowledged that his book made “no pretence at being history in the academic sense” but he believed it to be a “true story” of a “vanished people.”
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