[rufus_foreman]

>> The Norse colonization didn't seem to have a major impact on major agricultural populations in North America, perhaps because they landed in remote regions of Greenland and Canada with low population densities

The Norse didn't travel to North America directly from Europe. For them to spread smallpox, someone from Europe would have had to travel to Greenland shortly before they left for North America. Then they would have had to come into close contact with Indians before the disease ran its course among the crew, which, given the close contact on a small sailing vessel, probably wouldn't take long.

[timschmidt]

"There is evidence of Norse trade with the natives (called the Skrælingjar by the Norse). The Norse would have encountered both Native Americans (the Beothuk, related to the Algonquin) and the Thule, the ancestors of the Inuit. The Dorset had withdrawn from Greenland before the Norse settlement of the island. Items such as comb fragments, pieces of iron cooking utensils and chisels, chess pieces, ship rivets, carpenter's planes, and oaken ship fragments used in Inuit boats have been found far beyond the traditional range of Norse colonization. A small ivory statue that appears to represent a European has also been found among the ruins of an Inuit community house.[13]"

From: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norse_colonization_of_North_Am...