Leif Erikson: The Real European Discoverer of America

Leif Erikson, the first European recorded to have discovered America, was born sometime between 960 and 970 AD in the Viking settlement of Iceland, the second son of Erik the Red. Erik the Red was so named because of his red hair and beard and because of his tendency to kill people he argued with. Erik the Red had been exiled from Norway because of killings he had committed, according to the Saga of Erik the Red. He settled in Iceland with his wife, children, and slaves. Sometime in the 980s, Erik was exiled from Iceland for killing two in an altercation over two wooden benches and another man in an argument over an accident caused by his slaves.

Having heard of lands to the west, Erik, his family, slaves, and various followers set sail. They landed in Greenland and explored the place for about three years. With the term of his exile up, Erik returned to Iceland with tales of a land he called Greenland, shrewdly named to make the new land seem more appealing that Iceland.  Erik returned to Greenland with settlers and established to settlements in the new land.

Little is known of the early life of Leif Erikson. One saga has him as a teenager using his knowledge of the sea to capture a polar bear trapped on an ice floe, greatly impressing the other Norsemen. Other depicts Leif hearing the tale of Bjorn Hergelfson, who had gone off course on his way between Iceland and Greenland and had claimed to have spotted a new land to the west.

In his early twenties, Leif captained a ship that bore gifts from Greenland to the King of Norway. On his way he and his crew stayed with the lord of the Hebrides Islands. There Leif met the lord’s daughter, Thorgunna, who was said to be learned in witchcraft and other arts. He had a child with her, which was named Thorgils, and is the only known child of Leif’s.

Leif arrived in Norway and was the guest of King Olav. It was in Norway that Leif converted to Christianity. When he eventually returned to Greenland, he brought along a priest to spread the word of Christianity.