The Voyage of the Viking, the Chicago World’s Fair, and the “Discovery” of “America”
By Timothy Boyce

The World’s Columbian Exposition, also known as the Chicago World’s Fair, was held in 1893 to commemorate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus’s arrival in the New World. Not to be outdone, Norway’s contribution to the Fair set out to show that its forebears arrived in North America centuries before Columbus ever set sail.  How? By building and sailing a replica of a true Viking ship across the Atlantic, thereby proving that the Vikings could have made the trip centuries before Columbus was even born.  It was not until the 1960s, over 67 years after the Chicago World’s Fair, that conclusive evidence of Viking settlement in North America (excluding Greenland) was finally established, at L’Anse aux Meadows, Newfoundland, Canada.  This is the story of the Viking Ship, its amazing transatlantic voyage in 1893, its reception in the New World, and its subsequent history.

Timothy Boyce practiced law for many years, most recently serving as the Managing Partner of the Charlotte, NC office of Dechert LLP, a global law firm. He holds an M.B.A. from The Wharton School of Finance, and a J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Law School. He received a B.S. from Georgetown University.  In 2016 Tim edited and republished a WWII concentration camp diary written by Odd Nansen.  His articles have appeared in The Quarterly Journal of Military History, World War II Magazine, The Scandinavian Review and Viking Magazine.  Tim, who lives in Tryon, NC, retired in 2014 to devote full time to writing and speaking.

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