Why Did Early European Attempts at Colonization Fail?
colonization efforts that made them especially difficult. The Norse efforts to colonize Iceland, Greenland, and Vinland suffered to a large extent from the fact that these areas are very far away from Europe and did not have much to entice settlers or even merchants to brave the fierce cold of the North Atlantic to go there. Given the choice of living in the comfort of your home country or migrating across an uncharted ocean to eke out a living in the bitter cold, most people would choose the former. It may have been different if these areas had cash crops like tobacco in Virginia. Also, although they discovered a great deal of territory, the Norse were by no means explorers and generally only set out in search of land after someone else had found it by accident. When they got to Vinland, they found that they were greatly outnumbered by hostile natives and though they enjoyed a slight technological advantage over the natives, it was not enough to ensure their supremacy. In sum, it seem
