Quote Originally Posted by GoreBag
I remember that thread featuring an article about North America, but I could wrong.
You remember right.
I was one of the participants in that thread or a similar one.

My contribution came from what I have learned studying the Norse sagas. I have also brought questions to other forums about this.

The one I think of is found in Eiríks saga rauða (Erik the Red’s saga) where they captured two skrælinger (Native americans). The Natives learn Norse and is talking about the land. They mention a group of people east from the location where the men (I can’t remember exactly but I think one of them is Þorfinnr Karlsefni) put in (somewhere south of Vinland). They speak of a people clad in White, walking with high poles, chanting songs with loud voices. Karlsefni asks the famous question: at þat hafi verit Hvítramannaland eða Írland it mikla. (If this was White-man-land or Greater Ireland.)
As I said I have discussed this on other forums with particular knowledgeable people on the Norse Sagas. The Vikings seldom attributed the lands they accounted based on the skin colour of its inhabitants. It was more often what they wore. i.e Bláland and Serkland.
Many have concluded that Blueland(Bláland) have its name because of the blue-black inhabitants (south of Sahara). Even though this is the common consensus, there is a new view on this and I share this view. The people of Bláland had sharp blue dyed clothing. Serkland is the North of Africa where they wore – a Serk (a long shirt). Hvitramannaland was well known to the Norse and the people there wore probably white clothing as Skælingene suggested. The other thing that is notable is Karlsefni’s suggestion of this land being Greater Ireland, distinct from the Ireland back home.
We know from the sagas that a people dressed in white, holding tall poles and chanting had a monastery on Iceland about the time of the first Norse arrivals there. They were weird and soon driven from the island. They spoke Irish.