Leif Erikson

Erikson was an Icelandic explorer and probably the first European that visited North America, 500 years before Christopher Columbus officialy discovered the Americas.

Leif Erikson was the second of three sons of Erik the Red, who established a settlement in Greenland after he was exiled from Iceland. His story was recorded in several different sagas, but the accounts are different and it is difficult to determine which details are certain.

Around 1000 Erikson have visited Norway where he converted to Christianity by Olaf I, who sent him back to Greenland with the intention to convert the local population. On his voyage to Greenland he sailed off-course and arrived in a foreign land. According to another version, he intentionally organized an expedition to explore sections of the North American coast which was discovered earlier by the Icelandic trader Bjarni Herjolfsson. Either way, he established a base camp and explored the area where he found abundant resources. As lumber and wild grapes were of the greatest importance he named that area “Vinland” or “Land of Wine”.

The precise location of Vinland remains uncertain with various locations that match the description. In 1963, archaeologists discovered ruins of a settlement built in a Viking manner at L'Anse aux Meadows, in northern Newfoundland, which correspond to Leif's description of Vinland.