Leif Ericson
Leif Ericson (
Old Norse:
Leifr Eiríksson)
[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.] (
c. 980 –
c. 1020) was an Icelandic explorer who was the first
European known to have discovered
North America—more specifically, the region that would become
Newfoundland and, by later extension,
Canada.
It is believed that Leif was born around
980 (in
Iceland), the second son of
Erik the Red (
Old Norse:
Eiríkr rauði), a
Norwegian-Icelandic
outlaw, himself the son of another Norwegian outlaw,
Þorvaldr Ásvaldsson. Leif's mother was Þjóðhildr. Erik had started two Norse colonies, the Western Settlement and the Eastern Settlement, in
Greenland, which he had named. As far as it is known, Leif Ericson had two brothers,
Þorvaldr and
Þorsteinn, and one sister,
Freydís. Leif married a woman by the name of Þórgunnr, and they had one son,
Þorkell Leifsson.
During a stay in Norway, Leif was converted to
Christianity, like many Norse around that time. He also went to Norway to serve the
King of Norway,
Olaf Tryggvason. When he returned to Greenland, he bought the boat of
Bjarni Herjólfsson, and set out to explore the land that Bjarni had found, today known as North America.
The
Saga of the Greenlanders tells that Leif set out around
1000 to follow Bjarni's circular route with 35 crew members, but in the opposite direction.
[Another saga, The Saga of Eric the Red, relates that it was actually Leif who discovered the American mainland while returning from Norway to Greenland in 1000 or thereabouts; but the saga does not mention any attempts to settle there. However, the Saga of the Greenlanders is considered to be the more reliable of the two.] The first land he met was covered with flat rock slabs (Old Norse:
hellur). He therefore called it
Helluland ("Land of the Flat Stones"), probably the present day
Baffin Island. Next he came to a land that was flat and wooded, with white sandy beaches, which he called
Markland ("Wood-land"), usually assumed to have been
Labrador.
When Leif and his crew left Markland and found land again, they landed and built some houses. They found the land pleasant: there were plenty of
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 German warrior, found
grapes, and that Leif 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).
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 actually the tip of Newfoundland later known as
L'Anse aux Meadows.
In
1964,
President of the United States Lyndon B. Johnson declared
October 9 to be "
Leif Erikson Day" in the
United States.
*
St. Brendan*
Olaf the Black*
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.
*
Leif Ericson Viking Ship LEVS is a 501(c) 3 nonprofit educational organization dedicated to the study, education and promotion of the fact that Leif Ericson was the first European to set foot upon and explore the North American Continent and of Vikings in general, their times and travels throughout the world.
