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Early Life Leif Ericsson was the first European to set foot on North American land. He also made the discovery and naming of Vinland. Ericsson was born circa 970 BCE in Iceland. However, his exact date of birth is uncertain and is still under speculation. Born as the second eldest son to Erik the Red and Thjodhild, and brother to Thorvald, Thorstein, and half-sister Freydis, Ericsson grew to become an explorer and sailor like his father. Numerable Icelandic men documented Leif Ericsson’s expeditions but there was too much dissimilarity between accounts to be clear on all the details of his voyages.

In 999 BCE, Ericsson journeyed to Norway and was converted to Christianity by King Olaf Trygvson. In a later expedition to Norway, Ericsson’s ship was thrown off course by strong winds. He ended up on the Hebrides Islands and met Thorgunna, a woman of high stature. Leif Ericsson and Thorgunna had a relationship and eventually a son, whom they named Thorkell. Though it is known that Thorkell and Leif eventually were united in the span Thorkell’s adult life, it is unclear whether Leif took his son and Thorgunna with him or if he had left them in the Hebrides until Thorkell was old enough to seek Leif on his own.

Vinland Discovery Two medieval Icelandic sagas, The Greenlander’s Saga and Eirik’s Saga, provide historical evidence on Norse contacts with North America. According to the Greenlander’s Saga, which is now considered more reliable than Eirik’s Saga, Icelander Bjarni Herjolfsson was the first to sight the Vinland region around 985 AD, but did not allow his crew to land. Leif later learned of Vinland from Herjolfsson, who had been there fourteen years earlier. It is believed to be in the North American Atlantic coastal areas described by Norse explorers that Leif established the settlement he named Vinland. Vinland was said to be rich in grapes, timber and a self-sown "wheat." Some researchers believe that the Vikings sailed as far south as Cape Cod, and that Vinland itself was actually below the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

Voyages to Vinland: Leif & Thorvald According to The Greenlander’s Saga, Leif journeyed to Greenland the year after he converted to Christianity in Norway around 1000. He was commissioned by the Norwegian king Olaf I Tryggvason to spread Christianity to Greenland settlers. On his return voyage, he sailed off course and landed on a North American region he called Vinland, perhaps because of the wild grapes and fertile land he found there. Leif and about thirty-five crew members spent the winter in Vinland. They made wine from the grapes and built a large house and shed to protect their ship. Before they resumed their journey, they cut logs to bring back to Greenland, where trees were scarce. On the return trip in the spring, they rescued fifteen victims of a shipwreck, who gave Erikson their cargo as a reward. This cargo, plus the logs, helped Erikson become rich. He was afterwards called Leif the Lucky. Leif himself undertook no further voyages to Vinland after this, but his brother Thorvald made an expedition in which he perished. As said in the Saga of Eric the Red, Thorvald prepared to make this voyage with thirty men. They put their ship in order and sailed out to sea. There is no account of their voyage before their arrival at Vinland. They laid up their ship there, and remained there quietly during the winter, supplying themselves with food by fishing. In the spring, however, Thorvald suggested that they should put their ship in order, and that a few men should take the after-boat, and proceed along the western coast, and explore the region thereabouts during the summer. They found it a plain, but well-wooded realm. It was but a short distance from the woods to the sea, and there were white sands, as well as great numbers of islands and shallows. They found neither dwelling of man nor lair of beast, but in one of the westerly islands they found a wooden building for the shelter of grain. They found no other trace of human handiwork, so they turned back, and arrived at Liefs-booths in the autumn. The following summer Thorvald set out toward the east with the ship, and along the northern coast. They were met by a high wind off a certain promontory, and were driven ashore there, and damaged the keel of their ship, and were compelled to remain there for a long time and repair the injury to their vessel. Then said Thorvald to his companions, "I propose that we raise the keel upon this cape, and call it Keelness,” and so they did. Then they sailed away to the eastward off the land and into the mouth of the adjoining firth and to a headland, which projected into the sea there, and which was entirely covered with woods. They found an anchorage for their ship, and put out the gangway to the land. Thorvald and all of his companions went ashore. "It is a fair region here," said he, "and here I should like to make my home." They then returned to the ship, and discovered on the sands, in beyond the headland, three mounds. They went up to these and saw that they were three skin canoes with three men under each. They thereupon divided their party, and succeeded in seizing all the men but one, who escaped with his canoe. They killed the eight men, and then ascended the headland again, and looked about them, and discovered within the firth certain hillocks, which they concluded must be habitations. They were then so overpowered with sleep that they could not keep awake, and all fell into a heavy slumber from which they were awakened by the sound of a cry uttered above them. The words of the cry were these, "Awake, Thorvald, thou and all thy company, if thou wouldst save thy life; and board thy ship with all thy men, and sail with all speed from the land!" A countless number of skin canoes then advanced toward them from the inner part of the firth, whereupon Thorvald exclaimed, "We must put out the war-boards on both sides of the ship, and defend ourselves to the best of our ability, but offer little attack." This they did, and the Skrellings, after they had shot at them for a time, fled precipitately, each as best he could. Thorvald then inquired of his men whether any of them had been wounded, and they informed him that no one of them had received a wound. "I have been wounded in my armpit," says he. "An arrow flew in between the gunwale and the shield, below my arm. Here is the shaft, and it will bring me to my end. I counsel you now to retrace your way with the utmost speed. But me ye shall convey to that headland which seemed to me to offer so pleasant a dwelling-place. Thus it may be fulfilled that the truth sprang to my lips when I exprest the wish to abide there for a time. Ye shall bury me there, and place a cross at my head, and another at my feet, and call it Crossness forever after." Thorvald died; and, when they had carried out his injunctions, they took their departure, and rejoined their companions, and they told each other of the experiences which had befallen them. They remained there during the winter, and gathered grapes and wood with which to freight the ship. In the following spring they returned to Greenland, and arrived with their ship in Ericsfirth, where they were able to recount great tidings to Lief. At that time Christianity had obtained in Greenland. However, Leif died before its introduction in Greenland.

Perhaps the explorer who remained at Vinland for the longest period of time was an Icelandic trader named Thorfinn Karlsefni, who settled there for over three years. 

Speculation on Norse Exploration in North America

For many years historians have struggled to separate fact from fiction of the Icelandic sagas, The Saga of Erik the Red and The Greenlander’s, which are the only records of the Viking voyages to North America. First recorded in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, these sagas were not actually written by the Norse voyagers of the eleventh century themselves but are believed to be compilations of oral tradition or based on some other now-lost written source. The difference of time between when the sagas were written and when the events actually took place lessens the historical credibility of the documents. Also at times the sagas go off into obviously mythological proportions forcing historians to question whether these sources should be accepted as historical evidences or read merely as fictional literature.

Most modern historians would attest to the sagas as having some historical value in regards to the Norse discovery of North America. However, the sagas contain some crucial differences that lead historians to wonder which of the two tales is more credible. One of these differences exists in the return of Norse explorer, Thorfinn Karlsefeni, from North America. According to the sagas, Thorfinn spent a winter with Leif Erikson then later traveled to the land that Leif had found. There Thorfinn settled with his wife Gudrid and had a son named Snorri. According to the Saga of Erik the Red, Thorfinn returns to his family estate in Reynisnes while in the Greenlander’s Saga, Thorfinn settles in his own estate in Glaumbaer. Until recent archaeological discoveries have unearthed new information, The Saga of Erik the Red had been considered the more reliable source by most historians. However, an archaeological dig performed by John Steinberg and his team in Glaumbaer, Iceland in September 2002 suggests the contrary. He had unearthed the remains of a log house that he claims may have been the residence of Thorfinn Karlsefeni. The log house measures one hundred feet by twenty-five and a half feet, denoting an owner of wealth and power, such as Thorfinn. Additionally, the architecture of the log house is more similar to that of the Algonquin tribes than that of the traditional Icelandic house and it bears a strong resemblance to the remains found in L’Anse aux Meadows, Newfoundland where other Icelandic remnants of the time period have been found. This strongly suggests that the log house was built by one of the Norse explorers of North America. If this is truly the home of Thorfinn Karlsefeni, the Greenlander’s Saga becomes the more accurate source of the Viking North American voyages.

Archaeological discoveries made by Helge Ingstad and his wife, Anne Stine, in L’Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland provides crucial physical evidence of Nordic presence in North America in the eleventh century. The couple found remnants of the only known Viking settlements in North America. The artifacts found include a copper alloy ring-headed pin of Norse design, a soapstone spindle whorl of Norse design, a stone lamp, and a wooden ship repair piece of which identical form has been found in Norse Dublin. A sod-walled structure was found resembling a bath-house common in Norse-occupied Greenland. Radiocarbon dating has placed the origin of these artifacts at around 1000 CE. These discoveries have verified the tales of Viking settlement in the Americas.

According to the Greenlander’s Saga, Leif Ericsson had heard of the new land from Bjarni Herjolfsson who had seen it but had not allowed his crew to land. Leif sailed towards Bjarni’s newfound territory and first landed in Helluland (Flat Rock Land). Then he sailed south to an area he called Markland (Forest Land). Sailing further south he reached Vinland (Wine Land) and settled there for the winter. Most historians would confidently say that Helluland is present-day Baffin Island and Markland is Labrador. However, the geographic location of Vinland is still widely speculated. Some hold that Vinland is Newfoundland or Nova Scotia, while others believe it is located farther south in Cape Cod. Even some historians have said that Vinland could be as far south as Florida or as far inland as the Great Lakes. The excavations of the Norse settlement remains have provided the strongest physical evidence of the location of the Vinland settlement being in the L’Anse aux Meadows area.

Leif Ericsson Day

On September 2, 1964, United States Congress authorized President Lyndon B. Johnson to designate October 9 as Leif Ericsson Day in honor of the valiant Viking explorer who was the first European to set foot on American soil. To show American pride in their rich Scandinavian heritage, he invited all American citizens to hold “appropriate exercises and ceremonies in schools and churches, or other suitable places.”