Which Canadian UNESCO World Heritage Site preserves the remains of a Viking settlement in North America?

L’Anse aux Meadows preserves the remains of a Viking settlement in North America and became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1978.

The archaeological site is located at the northern tip of Newfoundland, Canada. Excavations revealed the remains of timber-framed, peat-covered buildings, iron-working evidence, and artifacts associated with Norse settlement. The structures resemble those known from Norse Greenland and Iceland, providing firm archaeological evidence of a Viking presence in North America.

The settlement is generally dated to around the year 1000. It is widely identified with the Vinland voyages described in medieval Norse sagas, although the site itself may have served as a base or repair station rather than a large permanent colony. The discovery helped confirm that Norse sailors reached the Americas centuries before Columbus.

L’Anse aux Meadows is often called the first European settlement in North America, but wording matters. It is the earliest confirmed Norse site in the Americas and the only confirmed Viking settlement found there, while the broader history of early contact and settlement is more complex.