Leif Erikson

Leif Erikson, also known as Leif the Lucky, was a Norse explorer. He is thought to have been the first European to reach America, many years before Christopher Columbus.

According to old stories from sagas of Icelanders, Leif set up a Norse place called Vinland in North America. Some believe this place is near Newfoundland, Canada, at a site called L'Anse aux Meadows, which was used about 1,000 years ago.

We do not know where Leif was born, but he grew up in Greenland. His father, Erik the Red, started the first Norse settlement there. After Leif's trip to Vinland and his father's death, Leif became the leader of the Greenland settlement. He had two sons, Thorgils and Thorkell. Thorkell later became the leader after Leif.

Early life

Leif was the son of Erik the Red and his wife Thjodhild (Old Norse: Þjóðhildur). He was also the grandson of Thorvald Ásvaldsson. When Erik the Red was young, he was sent away from Norway. The family then moved to live in Iceland. Leif was likely born there.

Later, Erik was sent away from Iceland. He sailed to a place he named Greenland. He returned briefly to take his family and others to Greenland. They started the first permanent home there in 986. Leif grew up on the family farm Brattahlíð in the Eastern Settlement of Greenland. He had two brothers named Thorstein and Thorvald, and a sister named Freydís. Tyrker, one of Erik's trusted helpers, was like a father to Leif.

Discovering Vinland

The Saga of Erik the Red and the Saga of the Greenlanders tell stories about voyages to Vinland, a place many think was in North America. These stories were written around the year 1200 and mix facts with imagination, so people debate how true they are. The only early mentions of Vinland are in Adam of Bremen's writings from around 1075 and in the Book of Icelanders from around 1122 by Ari the Wise, but these only talk about it briefly.

In the Saga of Erik the Red, Leif Erikson found Vinland after a storm blew him off course while he was traveling from Norway to Greenland. Before this, Leif had visited the court of King Olaf Tryggvasson and learned about Christianity. When the storm pushed him to a new land, his crew explored and found wild grapes, wheat that grew by itself, and maple trees. They took these back to Greenland and also helped some sailors whose ship had crashed. Because of this and for helping bring Christianity to Norse Greenland, Leif became known as "Leif the Lucky". Though Leif never went back to Vinland, others from Greenland and Iceland did, including Thorfinn Karlsefni.

In the Saga of the Greenlanders, another sailor named Bjarni Herjólfsson first saw lands that were not Greenland but did not stop to explore them. About 15 years later, Leif bought Bjarni's ship and set out to find those lands. After landing in rocky and forested areas, he finally reached a pleasant place with lots of salmon and vines. He named this land Vinland, meaning "Wineland", and his crew built a small settlement there called Leifsbudir. The next spring, Leif returned to Greenland with grapes and wood, and again helped rescue someone lost at sea.

Most experts think Vinland was in North America. In the 1960s, explorers Helge Ingstad and Anne Stine Ingstad found a Norse site at L'Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland, Canada. This place dates back to around the year 1021 and shows that Norse people reached North America about 500 years before Christopher Columbus. Some believe Vinland might have included areas around the Gulf of St. Lawrence, with L'Anse aux Meadows serving as a stopping point for trips there.

Personal life

Leif is described in the Vinland sagas as a wise, kind, and strong man. When he was older, Leif traveled to Norway to serve as a retainer for King Olaf Tryggvason. On the way, his ship was blown to the Hebrides, where he stayed for much of the summer. There, Leif fell in love with a noblewoman named Thorgunna, and they had a son named Thorgils. Thorgunna stayed behind when Leif left because he needed her family's permission to take her. Thorgils later joined Leif in Greenland but was not popular there.

After reaching Norway, Leif became a Christian. The king asked him to return to Greenland and help the people there become Christian. On his way back, Leif was blown off course and discovered Vinland. Leif's father did not want to change his religion, but his mother Thjóðhildr became a Christian and built a church called Thjóðhild's Church. One story says that after Leif returned to Greenland, the whole country became Christian, including his father.

Chieftaincy and death

After Leif returned from Vinland, his father died, and Leif became the main leader in Greenland. The last time Leif is mentioned as being alive is in 1018 in the Saga of St. Olaf. By 1025, leadership had passed to his son Thorkell. The sagas do not say how Leif died, but he likely passed away in Greenland sometime between these years. Nothing more is known about Leif's family.

Historicity

Leif was probably a real person and is thought to be the first European to reach North America. Many details about his life are not certain. Some scholars think parts of his story may not be true. His role as a missionary to Greenland might also not be real, as it comes from a story told by Gunnlaugr Leifsson.

Legacy

Norse and medieval Europe

Leif's trip to a place called Vinland inspired other Norse explorers to visit the same area. They were the first Europeans to reach parts of North America, but they did not stay there long. Stories about their travels spread across Europe. One writer named Adam of Bremen wrote about Vinland around the year 1075, based on stories from Danish people.

Norse encounters with the Indigenous peoples

Leif did not meet the local people, but later Norse explorers did. They called these people skrælingi. When a group tried to settle in Vinland, they first traded with the local people. But later there was a fight, and one of the explorers was killed. When they left Vinland, they took two young local boys back to Greenland.

Travels and commemoration

Stories about Leif's trip to North America became very important to people of Nordic heritage who moved to America later. The first statue of Leif was put up in Boston in 1887. More statues were erected in cities like Milwaukee, Chicago, and Seattle over the years. In 1924, a statue was placed in Reykjavík, Iceland, as a gift from the United States to mark 1,000 years since Iceland's parliament began.

Leif Erikson Day

In 1929, Wisconsin made October 9th "Leif Erikson Day." Later, many other states did the same. In 1964, Congress asked the president to proclaim October 9th each year as Leif Erikson Day. Every president since then has done this. The date October 9th was chosen because it was already an important day for Norwegian immigrants to America, when a ship named Restaurationen arrived in New York in 1825.

Gallery of art and sculptures

_[Leiv Eirikson Discovering America](/wiki/Leiv_Eirikson_Discovering_America)_ by [Christian Krohg](/wiki/Christian_Krohg) (1893)

[Leif Erikson memorial statue](/wiki/Statue_of_Leif_Erikson_\(Seattle\)) at Shilshole Bay Marina, [Port of Seattle](/wiki/Port_of_Seattle)

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  Leif Eriksson Memorial (1929–1932), Reykjavík, Iceland. This statue is at the front of the Hallgrímskirkja. There is a copy of this statue in Newport News, Virginia, USA.

Leif Erikson by [John K. Daniels](/wiki/John_Karl_Daniels), 1948–49, near the [Minnesota State Capitol](/wiki/Minnesota_State_Capitol).

The [oldest public statue of Leif Erikson](/wiki/Statue_of_Leif_Erikson_\(Boston\)), by [Anne Whitney](/wiki/Anne_Whitney), placed in [Boston](/wiki/Boston) in 1887.

A 'Leif Ericson' [proof dollar](/wiki/Proof_coinage) from the United States, minted in 2000. It reads 'Founder of the New World'

In fiction

• Leif is the main character in the 1928 film The Viking.
• An Old Captivity is a novel which involves a dream sequence featuring a character called Leif Ericson. It was written by Nevil Shute and published in 1940.
• In children's literature, Leif the Lucky written and illustrated by Ingri and Edgar Parin d'Aulaire. Published by Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1941.
• Leif is one of the main characters in Makoto Yukimura's manga Vinland Saga.
• Leif is the main character in the juvenile historical novel Vinland the Good. The author is Henry Treece. It is an account of Viking Era explorations.
• Leif is a main character in the Netflix historical drama series Vikings: Valhalla played by Sam Corlett.
• The Leif Erikson is the name of Hagbard Celine's golden submarine in The Illuminatus! Trilogy.