“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it”- George Santayana (1905)

The romantic mystery of societal collapses has made them very popular - everyone knows about the demise of Easter Island, the Incas and the Mayans.  Civilizations such as the Incas built awesome structures such as the Machu Picchu and thrived for centuries. Today, these sites are a favourite with tourists but they also hold a dark warning for the fate of our planet. Currently, our world is dealing with several ticking time-bombs such as species extinction, climate change and resource depletion and any one of these problems could lead to war, disease, starvation and the collapse of our society.

Norse Greenland is a lesser-known example of a collapsed society, but one that may be the most appropriate analogue for the future of our planet. As the Norse were European and literate there is a record of the settlements in Greenland. This gives us a better picture of the way of life and the motivations behind the action that lead to the collapse.

Jared Diamond (2005) in his book Collapse reasoned that there are five main factors that may contribute to the collapse of society:

1. environmental degradation
2. climate change
3. hostile neighbours
4. friendly trading partners and
5. the society’s response to its environmental problem

Over the next couple of months I will investigate each of Diamond’s factors in the downfall of Norse Greenland and draw parallels with contemporary society. However, the aim of this post was to show the importance of studying the reasons that led to fall of societies and how a greater understanding of the similarities and differences of these two societies will help us to overpower the similarities and change our fate.

Next time ... Viking expansions and the Norse settlement in Greenland