Once upon a time there lived a Wizard by the name of Olof in what is now southern Sweden.  Olof was born in 980 A.D.  At a very young age he showed magical talent that was unusual even for a Wizard: he was a true Seer.  At that time, Muggles and magical people got along with each other fairly well, but he predicted that within a few centuries relations would deteriorate to the point that magical people would have to hide from Muggles.  He also predicted that around the year 1000 some Vikings, currently stationed in Greenland, would explore a new world but would fight with the locals and be evicted.  He imagined himself joining them, persuading them to treat the locals nicely and initiating the establishment of a permanent settlement that would serve as a refuge for magical people while they were being persecuted.

  When he was ten years old, he heard about the founding of the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in Scotland.  He realized that he would be better equipped to perform the mission he had envisioned if he learned magic; so he spent the next year learning English so that he could understand the classes in Hogwarts if he was invited to study there.  Sure enough, he did receive that invitation by owl post the next year, and he eagerly journeyed there to begin his studies.  One of Hogwarts' four founders, Helga Hufflepuff, saw that, like her, he liked to help others; so she placed him in her House.  He wasn't the most brilliant student at Hogwarts, but he was among the most hard-working; so he graduated with an E in every subject except for his two favourite subjects – Herbology and Divination – in which he got an O.

  He then sailed to Greenland and joined the Viking colony there.  As he got to know these Vikings, he realized that the voyage that would lead to the eviction of the Vikings by the natives was not the first one, the one led by Leif Ericsson, who gave the land he discovered the name Vinland, but rather the second one, the one led by Leif's brother Thorvald. By showing off his ability to predict the future, he managed to persuade Thorvald to include him on that voyage.  On the way there, Olof told Thorvald and the rest of the voyagers about another one of his predictions: that if they weren't nice to the locals, they would be evicted from Vinland and many of them would be killed including Thorvald himself.  Having witnessed Olof's other predictions coming true, they decided to follow his advice.  As a result, they were allowed to remain in Vinland, and some of them and their descendants intermarried with the locals. With his training as a Herbologist, Olof was able to make substantial improvements to local agriculture, enabling the locals to feed themselves without having to fight wars with each other or take slaves, and they were so grateful to him that they followed his advice to cease and desist from these evil practices.  He also discovered that some of the locals and a few of the Vikings were magical, and he taught them everything he had learned at Hogwarts so that, when he passed away, they would be able to carry on his work.

  During the course of the next few centuries Vinland with its peaceful ways spread until it covered all of what would otherwise have been called North America.  The Spanish, French and English voyagers to the New World had the same mindset as Thorvald and his crew had before meeting Olof – conquest and plunder – but their weapons were no match for the magical powers of some of the local inhabitants, and they returned to their homelands with stories about the strange land they had visited.  Inspired by these stories, others with more peaceful intentions journeyed to Vinland, bringing with them advanced Muggle technology, which helped to raise living standards there to European levels.  As Olof had hoped, Vinland did become a refuge for persecuted magical people, as well as other persecuted people including Jews.

  What happened in the twentieth century went far beyond even Olof's dreams.  He had envisioned – and founded – a refuge from a more violent and unjust world.  He had not expected that refuge to set an example for the rest of the world, but indeed it did. The Muggles and the magical people in much of the rest of the world resumed the peaceful coexistence that had once been the norm, resulting in the revoking of the International Statute of Secrecy.  In addition, the majority of the population in country after country, starting with the Scandinavian countries, were inspired by the Vinnish example to adopt a social system similar to the one that had long ago been established in Vinland thanks to Olof's teachings.  Neither Vinland nor any of the newer Social Democracies ever became economic powerhouses, but they prospered thanks to the combined power of magic and Muggle technology.  They did make some enemies: the more extreme proponents of capitalism and communism as well as Muggle-hating wizards and wizard-hating Muggles including religious fanatics of all stripes.  But none of them dared to attack these countries on their own and they hated each other too much to band together; so these countries were left in peace.  The ancient magical philosopher who had initiated these developments was so revered that many people were named after him, including a certain Swedish Prime Minister to whom this story is dedicated.