Leif Eriksson Lands in North America
Leif Eriksson, often referred to as Leif the Lucky, is a notable figure in Viking history best known for his voyages to North America around the year 1000, nearly 500 years before Christopher Columbus. According to Icelandic sagas, he sailed from Greenland to a region he named Vinland, believed to be located in modern-day North America, characterized by its wild grapes and fertile land. The exact date of his landing is often cited as October 9, 1002. Eriksson was the son of Erik the Red, who established a colony in Greenland, further highlighting the Vikings' extensive exploration and settlement efforts across the North Atlantic.
The sagas recount various adventures of Leif and his family, including attempts to establish a settlement in Vinland, although there are inconsistencies in these narratives due to their oral transmission prior to being recorded. In 1963, archaeological discoveries at L'Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland provided evidence of Norse presence in North America, including structures and artifacts that corroborate the sagas. This discovery has sparked interest in understanding Viking expansion and its historical implications, as well as the cultural interactions between Norse explorers and indigenous populations.
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Leif Eriksson Lands in North America
Leif Eriksson Lands in North America
According to Icelandic sagas, a Viking called Leif the Lucky, the son of Erik the Red and thus known as Leif Eriksson, sailed west from Greenland and discovered a land rich with wild grapes and wheat. He called it Vinland and historians now believe it was North America. Some authorities consider October 9, 1002, to be the exact date of his landing in the New World, almost 500 years before Columbus.
Leif's discovery came toward the end of a series of incursions begun by the Vikings in the ninth century, when they emerged from the isolation of their native Scandinavia and radically altered the course of history. For some 300 years these bold seafarers raided and plundered towns and monasteries along the coasts and rivers of Great Britain, Ireland, France, Germany, Portugal, Spain, Italy, and Russia, in some areas eventually establishing trading posts and settlements. Superb sailors and resourceful navigators, the Vikings also ventured out into the North Atlantic. Proceeding west from Norway, they settled in the Shetland, Faroe, and Orkney islands, in Iceland, and finally in Greenland, where Erik the Red founded a colony about 985.
Several of the Icelandic sagas mention Erik's son Leif and his journey to Vinland. However, the sagas were transmitted orally for about 200 years before they were finally written down, long after the events, and there are many discrepancies and contradictions in the accounts. In one version Leif purposely sets out to locate a mysterious land that was sighted by a Norse navigator in 986 and even has the navigator's instructions to guide him, but in another version Leif is simply blown off course during a trading voyage and comes upon Vinland by accident. The sagas also tell of attempts by Leif's brother Thorvald, his sister Freydis, and Thorfinn Karlsevni, a Norse trader, to settle in the land that Leif had discovered, but it is not clear how many attempts were made or where or even exactly by whom. Descriptions of the geography and biota of “Vinland” also vary.
For a long time the sagas were unknown outside of Iceland, and even there they were sometimes thought to be tall tales. In 1963, however, the Norwegian explorer Helge Ingstad and Anne Stine, his archaeologist wife, unearthed traces of nine typically Norse structures at L'Anse aux Meadows on the coast of Newfoundland, Canada. By means of radiocarbon dating, they were able to verify that the site had been occupied around the year 1000. One of the artifacts found was a Viking cloak-pin.