Settlement of the West
The Settlement of the West (Old Norse: Vestribyggð) was a group of farms and communities established by Norsemenfrom Iceland around AD 985 in medieval Greenland. Despite its name, the Western Settlement was more north than west of its companion Eastern Settlement and was located at the head of the long Nuup Kangerlua fjord (inland fromNuuk, the present Greenlandic capital).At its peak, the Western Settlement probably had about 1,000 inhabitants, about a fourth the size of the Eastern Settlement, owing to its shorter growing season. The largest of the Western Settlement farms was Sandnæs. Ruins of almost 95 farms have been found in the area.