Leif Erikson
First European to make landfall on the Americas
Leif Erikson (also known as Leiv Eiriksson, Leif Ericson) was a Icelandic Norse explorer that lived from approximately 970-1020. Historians believe that Leif was the first European to have discovered continental North America, around 500 years before Christopher Columbus. His history is primarily documented in Icelandic Sagas.
Leif was the son of Erik the Red, who founded both Þjóðhildur (Thjodhild) and the first Norse settlement in Greenland, both of Norwegian rather than Icelandic origin; Erik the Red's colonization of Greenland was driven by the banishment of his father, Thorvald Ásvaldsson, from Iceland for manslaughter. Tyrker, one of Erik's Thralls, was specifically trusted to raise Erik's children, and Leif considered him to be a foster father. Leif is also distantly related to Naddodd, who is considered the discoverer and founder of Iceland and its first colonies. While his ancestors are Norse, Leif is widely believed to have been born in the newly colonized Norwegian settlements of Iceland. Leif himself grew up in his family's estate within the Brattahlíð settlement of Greenland, of which he reigned as the chieftan. His son, Thorkell, succeeded him as chieftan after his death.
According to the sagas The Saga of Erik the Red and The Saga of the Greenlanders, both considered to have been written around 1200 CE, Leif discovered the land that would be Vinland when he was blown off course during a voyage to introduce Christianity to Greenland. Leif had originally heard of the potential of such land's existence from the merchant Bjarni Herjólfsson, who had described seeing a strange land to the west when he was attempting to sail to Greenland, which he avoided. As Leif was blown off course int he same area, he decided to make landfall. After seeing the land, Leif returned to Greenland, purchased Bjarni's ship, gathered a crew of thirty-fem, and mounted a land towards the land.
Leif and his crew established a settlement called Vinland (lit. "wine land"), so named because the land was found to be rich with grapes and wheat. Vinland is largely considered to be somewhere in coastal North America. There is some debate over whether this corresponds to the remains of L'Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland, Canada (argued to be a related ship repair site, but not the primary settlement) or scattered sites surrounding the the Gulf of St. Lawrence, which lies in Quebec, New Brunswick, and Newfoundland.
Regardless of the exact location, Leif came into contact with the "Red Indians," notably delineated from the Inuit the Norse had already encountered, whom they referred to skrælingi (lit. "wretches"). The relationship was characterized by a friendly, strong trade relationship, but was not without conflict. Leif's brother, Thorvald, was struck with an arrow in a conflict, and later died after pulling the arrow out and disemboweling himself.
Through his adventures, Leif became known as "Leif the Lucky." This was in part due to the richness of the land he found and the trade relations he established, but also for his tendency to find and rescue castaways along the Icelandic trade routes.
Sources:
- Short, William R. (2010). Icelanders in the Viking age: the people of the sagas. McFarland. ISBN 978-0-7864-4727-5.
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- Sverrir Jakobsson (14 July 2001). "Vísindavefurinn: Var Leifur Eiríksson ekki Grænlendingur sem átti rætur að rekja til Íslands og Noregs?" [Was Leif Eiriksson not a Greenlander who had roots in Iceland and Norway?] (in Icelandic). Visindavefur.hi.is.
- "Why Do We Celebrate Columbus Day and Not Leif Erikson Day?". National Geographic. 11 October 2015.
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- "Voyages To Vinland The First American Saga Newly Translated And Interpreted". Alfred A. Knopf. 9 October 1942 – via Internet Archive.
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