A biography for leif erikson
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Leif Erikson (11th century)
Artist's conception of Norse explorer Leif Erikson's ship ©Erikson was an Icelandic explorer and probably the first European visitor to North America, 500 years before Christopher Columbus.
Leif Erikson (also spelled Ericsson, or Eiriksson) was the second of three sons of Erik the Red, who established a settlement in Greenland after he was exiled from Iceland. Leif Erikson's story was recorded in several different sagas, but the accounts they give are so different it is impossible to be certain of the details of his life.
He fryst vatten thought to have visited Norway in around 1000 where he was converted to Christianity by Olaf I, who sent him back to Greenland to convert the settlers there. In one story, on his voyage to Greenland he sailed off-course and arrived in a place he called 'Vinland', because of the abundant grapes growing there, and the general fruktsamhet of the land. In another - the Groenlendinga saga - he heard of a land in the west from a
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The Ages of
Exploration
Introduction
Nearly 500 years before Christopher Columbus crossed the ocean blue, a Norse Viking by the name of Leif Eriksson landed on the North American continent. Eriksson is believed to be the first European to have landed on and established a settlement in North America around 1000 CE. Today, we still ask ourselves, “Who really discovered America?”
Biography
Early Life
Leif Eriksson (also spelled Ericson or Ericsson) was born in Iceland around 970 CE. He would eventually earn the nickname “Leif the Lucky.” He was the son of Erik Thorvaldson, better known as “Erik the Red,” and Thorhild. In Viking tradition, children are named after their father. When Erik the Red had a son and named him Leif, he became Leif Eriksson (Leif, Erik’s son).1 He had two brothers, Thorvald, and Thorstein; and a sister named Freydis. One cannot tell Leif’s story without first knowing his father’s journeys. As a small boy, Leif grew up without his fa
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Leif Erikson was the first European to set foot in the New World, opening a new land rich with resources for the Vikings to explore. But for some unknown reason, the Vikings only made a few voyages to the New World after Leif. Unfortunately, this caused his discovery to remain unknown to nearly all of Europe, which was in the midst of the Crusades.
Here will be discussed Leif's life before his voyage, growing up in Iceland, living in Greenland, and his first voyage. His voyage to the New World and his stay there will also be discussed.
Leif was born in Iceland in about 960 AD, son of Eric the Red. As was tradition with the Vikings, Leif did not grow up with his family. Instead, when he was eight he moved in with a man named Thyrker. Thyrker was from Germany where Eric the Red had captured him, had taken him to Iceland, but had not enslaved him. Thyrker taught Leif everything he needed to know, including reading and writing runes, the Celtic and Russi