When historians ask why the Norse disappeared, they sometimes focus too heavily on what happened inside Greenland.

But what happened outside Greenland mattered too.

Norway experienced severe demographic and economic shocks during the later medieval period.

The Black Death devastated populations across Europe, and Iceland and Norway were affected by major epidemics and disruptions.

There is no solid evidence that bubonic plague itself wiped out the Greenlanders, and that distinction is essential.

The more plausible issue is indirect.

A trading partner weakened.