(Redirected from Leif Erikson)
'Leif Ericson' (
Old Norse: 'Leifr Eiríksson')
[1] (c.
970 – c.
1020) was a
Norse[2] explorer known to be the first
European to have landed in
North America[3] (in
Newfoundland,
Canada).

1968 United States postage stamp
Early life in Iceland
It is believed that Leif was born about 970 AD in
Iceland[4], the son of
Erik the Red (
Old Norse: ''Eiríkr inn rauði''), a
Norwegian explorer and
outlaw and himself the son of another Norwegian outlaw,
Þorvaldr Ásvaldsson. Leif's mother was Thjodhild (''Þjóðhildr'').
[5] Erik the Red had founded two Norse colonies in
Greenland, the
Western Settlement and the
Eastern Settlement, as he had named them.
Leif Ericson had two brothers,
Þorvaldr and
Þorsteinn, and one sister,
Freydís. Leif married a woman named Thorgunna, and they had one son,
Þorkell Leifsson.
Exploring west of Greenland
During a stay in
Norway, Leif Ericson converted to
Christianity, like many Norse of that time. He also went to Norway to serve the
King of Norway,
Olaf Tryggvason. When he returned to Greenland, he bought the boat from
Bjarni Herjólfsson and set out to explore the land that Bjarni had found (located
west of Greenland), which was, in fact, Newfoundland, in Canada.
The ''
Saga of the Greenlanders'' tells that Leif set out around the year
1000 to follow Bjarni's route with 15 crew members, but going north.
[6]
Helluland and Markland
The first land he went to was covered with flat and shiny rocks (Old Norse: ''hellur'', German: "''hell''"). He therefore called it
Helluland ("Land of the Flat Stones"). It was probably the present day
Baffin Island. Next he came to a land that was flat and wooded, with white sandy beaches. He called it
Markland ("Wood-land"), and it is usually assumed to have been
Labrador.
Settlement in Vinland
When Leif and his crew left Markland and found land again, they landed and built some houses. They found the area pleasant: there were plenty of large
salmon in the river and the climate was mild, with little frost in the winter and green grass year-round. They remained at this place over the winter.
The sagas mention that one of Leif's men, Tyrkir, possibly a
Hungarian (because at that time the Hungarians were named as
Turks
[7]), or a German, found wild
grapes, and that Leif accordingly named the country
Vínland after them.
On the return voyage, Leif rescued an Icelandic castaway named Þórir and his crew — an incident that earned Leif the
nickname 'Leif the Lucky' (Old Norse: ''Leifr hinn heppni'').
The L'Anse aux Meadows discovery
Research done in the
1950s and
1960s by explorer
Helge Ingstad and his wife,
archaeologist Anne Stine, strongly suggests that the settlement of Leif Ericson and his party in Vínland was located at the northern tip of Newfoundland, later known as
L'Anse aux Meadows.
United States commemoration
In 1964, the
United States Congress authorized and requested the
President to proclaim October 9 of each year as "
Leif Erikson Day". That date was chosen for its connection to the first organized immigration from
Norway to the
United States, not for any event in the life of the explorer. The day is also an official observance of several
U.S. states.
Speculation
★ A few have speculated that
Norsemen may have penetrated as far as
Minnesota, either coming down from
Hudson Bay or going west through the
Great Lakes. Some suggested that the
Mandan showed evidence of pre-Columbian explorers from Europe, A runestone with carvings of a Scandinavian nature was discovered near Kensington Minnesota, aptly titled the
Kensington Runestone, this stone dates back to approximately 1030
[8]
★ In the 19th century, the theory that Ericson and his men visited New England gained in popularity. The statue of Ericsson on
Commonwealth Ave. in
Boston, Massachusetts and the
Norumbega Tower in
Weston, Massachusetts were both created as monuments to this supposed Viking presence.
[9]
★ There is only one piece of hard evidence that suggests Vikings may have visited
the area now called the United States: an 11th century Norse coin, the
Maine Penny, found in
Brooklin, Maine along with thousands of other artifacts during an excavation of a former
Native American trading center. However, it is noted that this coin may have made it from Newfoundland via trade or may have even been brought to North America centuries later by the
English or
Portuguese.
[10]
★ Although there have been numerous attempts over the decades to show Viking presence in
United States, such as fanciful translations of mysterious stone carvings, or supposed European traits in some Native-American tribes, there has been no evidence accepted by the professional archaeological community.
[10]
See also

Map
★
Christopher Columbus
★
Explorers
★
Bjarni Herjólfsson
★
St. Brendan
★
Vinland
★
John Cabot
★
Matthew (ship)
★
Erik the Red
★
L'Anse aux Meadows
★
Kensington Runestone
★
Maine Penny
★
Helge Ingstad
External links
1. In modern Icelandic the first name is 'Leifur' and in modern Norwegian 'Leiv'. The patronym is Anglicized in various ways, such as 'Ericson', 'Eriksson', 'Ericsson', 'Erickson', 'Erikson' and 'Eiriksson'.
2. http://visindavefur.hi.is/svar.asp?id=5433
3. [1]
4. In both Eiríks saga rauða and Landnáma, Leif's father is said to have met and married Leif's mother Þjóðhildur in Iceland, so Leif was in all likelihood born there. See [2]
5. Sanderson, Jeanette. (2002) ''Explorers'', Teaching Resources/Scholastic. p. 14. ISBN 0-439-25181-8.
6. Another saga, ''The Saga of Eric the Red'', relates that Leif discovered the American mainland while returning from Norway to Greenland in 1000 (or possibly 1001), but does not mention any attempts to settle there. However, the ''Saga of the Greenlanders'' is usually considered the more reliable of the two.
7. Erdődy János: Küzdelem a tengerekért - A nagy felfedező utazások kora (the title in English: ''Fight for the Seas - Age of the Great Geographical Discoveries''); Móra Ferenc Könyvkiadó, Budapest, 1981., pp. 10-11.
8. ''Mystery of the Mandan'' by Charles Moore, 1998.
9. Vikings on the Charles
10. Archaeologist Buries Viking Theory
11. Archaeologist Buries Viking Theory
★
A reconstructed portrait of Leif Ericsson – Based on historical sources, in a contemporary style; from Reportret: gallery of reconstructed portraits
★
Biography at the ''Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online''
★
Leif Ericson Homepage – From the Great Norwegians webpages, hosted by Metropolitan News Company's website MNC Online.
★
[3] A writing about the vikings in "vinland".