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The Incredible Story of the Viking Who Discovered America
Leif Erikson was the son of Erik the Red, the infamous Viking whose exile for murder led him to explore and then lead the settlement of Greenland. Like his father, Leif Erikson was also an explorer, and his name has gone down in history as the first European to reach the New World, 500 years before Columbus’ expedition. But Erikson also left his mark on the Old World, as he was largely responsible for Greenland’s conversion to Christianity.
Who Was Leif Erikson?
Illustration of Leif Erikson by T.H. Robinson in Heroes of the Norselands, 1903, p. 109. Source: University of Victoria
The story of Leif Erikson is recorded in the sagas of Erik the Red and the Greenlanders, both written around 1200, two centuries after Erikson lived. It is therefore no surprise that they recount conflicting details about aspects of his life.
Leif was the son of Erik the Red, a Norwegian Viking whose father’s exile from Norway led the family to settle in Iceland. Erik himself was later exiled from Iceland for three years. During that time, he explored the yet uninhabited island of Greenland. He then recruited other settlers to join him and successfully established a settlement on the island.
Statue of Erik the Red. Source: Eiríksstadir Living Museum, Búðardalur, Iceland
Leif was the second of Erik’s four children, born sometime between 970 and 980 CE. His brothers were Thorvaldr and Thorstein, and he also had a sister called Freydis. As was common at the time, Leif was largely raised by a man called Thyrker, who was a German slave in Erik’s household. He is credited with teaching Leif to read and write, speak Celtic and Russian, and wield a weapon. He would later accompany Leif on most of his journeys.
Leif was born while his father was still living in Iceland, and he was reportedly 12 years old when his father was exiled for three years for killing another free Viking man in a fight. Therefore, Leif was probably a young man of around 15 during the settlement of Greenland, able to support his father as the chief of the new colony.
Voyage to Vinland
Oseberg Ship used in an aristocratic burial, Norway, 9th century. Source: Museum of the Viking Age, Norway
Leif Erikson is best known for being the first European to sail to the Americas, 500 years before the age of Columbus. However, this title conflicts with the story that Leif heard about the Americas from a Viking sailor called Bjarni Herjolfsson.
Bjarni claimed to have come across the land accidentally while trying to reach Greenland. He said that he knew he had sailed off course when he arrived at a land that was lush and green, which Greenland famously was not. However, they were keen to reach Greenland, so they turned back rather than go ashore. However, considering how small Viking ships were, they must have gone ashore briefly to collect supplies for the return journey.
It is unclear when Leif first heard the story, but he decided to set off to discover this reported green land in his 20s, making landfall sometime around the year 1000. He reportedly set off with a crew of 35 men. His father, Erik, was meant to join them, but was injured during a fall from a horse. This was considered a bad omen for the expedition, but it went ahead.
Map of Viking travels, including Leif Erikson’s route to the Americas. Source: Britannica
According to an account of the journey, Leif first encountered several inhospitable lands before discovering the lush, green land that Bjarni had described. Modern scholars believe that he may have encountered Baffin Island and the coastal regions of Canada before reaching an area that reportedly had rich green pastures, dense forests, and abundant salmon. This is where Leif and his party decided to land. It is unclear how Bjarni described his directions to Leif, as there is no evidence that the Vikings used maps, though they would have been familiar with them from neighboring cultures. However, the route would have been mostly coastal, allowing their ships to stay close to the shore and their landmarks.
Leif named the new land they had discovered Vinland (Wineland) after Thyker went missing for a few days and came back talking about the grapes he had found. Leif’s Vinland is believed to be modern-day Newfoundland. Not only is the area the first region that matches the description that Vikings sailing from Greenland would have encountered, but in the 1960s, archaeologists found the ruins of what is now confirmed to have been a Viking settlement at L’Anse aux Meadows.
Reconstructed Viking structure, L’Anse aux Meadows. Source: Wikimedia Commons
In addition to these archaeological remains, Erikson’s trips to the New World are also referenced by the German author Adam of Bremen in the 11th century and the Saga of the Icelanders, composed by the Medieval chronicler Ari the Wise in the early 12th century.
After spending a season in Vinland, Leif and his crew headed back to Greenland with reports of the lush new land they had discovered and carrying valuable grapes and timber. Leif’s family seems to have led several further expeditions to the new land, though Leif is not specifically described as being part of any of them.
Later Voyages to the New World
Lief Erikson Discovering America, by Christian Krohg, 1893. Source: National Museum of Art in Norway, Oslo
The most famous follow-up expedition was in 1004, led by Thorfinn Karlsefni and Leif’s sister, Freydis. Unlike accounts of Leif’s expedition, this one included an encounter with the Native Americans living in the area, whom the Vikings referred to as Skraelings. The story says that they attacked the Viking camp one night after some failed trade negotiations. Hitting the Vikings by surprise and using unusual catapult weapons, the Vikings began to flee, except for Freydis. Reportedly eight months pregnant and naked from the waist down, Freydis grabbed her weapons and started screaming bloody murder. The sight was so shocking that the Skraelings fled in terror. She later gave birth while still in Vinland.
Thorfinn Karlsefni’s expedition returned to Greenland not long after the raid on their camp. However, Freydis was reportedly disappointed with the trip’s results and sought to replicate the success of her brothers’ previous voyages, suggesting that there were other trips not described in the surviving sagas. She convinced two Icelandic brothers, Helgi and Finnbogi, to partner with her, sharing the expenses and the spoils.
A Norse raiding party featuring women, by Hugo Vogel, 1894. Source: Wikimedia Commons
From the outset of the expedition, Freydis repeatedly broke her word. She set out after the brothers so that she could organize to bring a larger force of men. Upon arrival, the brothers had set up camp in the houses and infrastructure established by Leif Erikson and his brothers. Freydis used her larger force to expel them, claiming she had the right as Leif’s sister. Despite this, the two groups continued to work together in this distant land.
Shortly before the expedition was due to return to Europe, Freydis reportedly beat herself and then went to her husband Torvald, who was also on the expedition, and claimed that the brothers had maltreated her. She demanded that he and the men kill the Icelanders, and she threatened to divorce him when he was reluctant. Torvald led the men against the Icelandic party but left five women who were in the camp alive. Furious and not wanting any witnesses, in a rage, Freydis killed the women herself, and she threatened her men not to tell anyone.
When they returned to Greenland, Leif Erikson, now chieftain of Greenland, was suspicious of the story told. He tortured three of Freydis’ men until they revealed the truth. According to the sagas, Leif did not punish her due to their bond of family loyalty, but he did predict that nothing good would come for Freydis or her descendants.
Converting Greenland to Christianity
Olaf Tryggvason Crowned King of Norway, by Peter Nicolai Arbo, 1899. Source: Wikimedia Commons
In addition to discovering the New World, Leif reportedly had a significant impact on the Old World by converting the Vikings of Greenland to Christianity.
The story begins when Erik the Red sent Leif to deliver gifts to King Olaf Tryggvason of Norway, before Leif’s famous voyage to the New World. On the way to Norway, Leif got blown off course and found himself in the Hebrides. Bad weather forced him to stay in the house of the local chief for a month. There, also struck up a relationship with the daughter of the chief, Thorgunna, who was also thought to be a witch. Although the two never married, she bore him a son, Thorgils, who was later sent to live with his father in Greenland.
When Leif eventually made his way to Norway, he quickly struck up a friendship with Olaf, who invited him to stay with him in Norway for a while. Olaf Tryggvason was a Christian actively converting his people in Norway. He influenced Lief to convert and be baptized.
Reconstruction of Thjodhildes Church, Greenland. Source: Visit Greenland
When Leif returned to Greenland, he brought a priest from Norway with him to spread the faith. While he was unable to convert his father, who was staunch in his commitment to the Norse gods, he did manage to convert his mother, Thjodhild. The first church constructed in Greenland is named after her.
Presumably, after his father’s death, when Leif himself became the chief of Greenland, he had no problem leading a widespread conversion. Leif himself was not followed to power by his son, Thorgils, but rather by another, presumably legitimate son, Thorkel Leifsson, by an unknown woman.
Leif Erikson’s Legacy
Leif Erikson Discovers America, by Hans Dahl, 1849-1937. Source: Wikimedia Commons
While Leif Erikson might have heard about the American continent from an earlier Viking traveler, he is still famed as the first serious European explorer to have discovered the New World, 500 years before his European cousins. Proud of the connection, Americans celebrate Leif Erikson Day each year on October 9th. Since the day the Viking explorer arrived is unknown, this date was selected as the day when the first Norwegian immigrants arrived in the United States in 1825. But Erikson had an eventful life beyond his American landing. He also followed his father as the chieftain of the Viking settlement in Greenland and led its conversion to Christianity.
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