Eystribyggð was the Old Norse name for Greenland’s Eastern Settlement.
The Eastern Settlement was one of the principal Norse colonial regions in Greenland. Despite its name, it lay in the island’s southwest, not on Greenland’s eastern coast. Norse farmers established farms around sheltered fjords, where the climate allowed limited hay production and livestock keeping. The settlement also supported hunting and trade in products such as walrus ivory.
The term “eastern” referred to its position relative to the Western Settlement and the sailing route from Iceland. Its farms included substantial estates and churches, indicating that the colony was organized and connected to wider Norse society.
The Eastern Settlement eventually disappeared, probably through a combination of climate change, economic pressures, changing trade networks, and local environmental limits. It should not be confused with the Western Settlement, which lay farther north and west.