See Also: Leif Eriksson(encyclopedia)
Ericsson, Leif(dictionary)
Eriksson (as used in expressions)(encyclopedia)
Magnus II Eriksson(encyclopedia)

Leif Eriksson (sh)




or Leif Eriksson the Lucky Norwegian Leiv Eriksson den Hepne

flourished 11th century

Icelandic explorer, possibly the first European to reach North America.

The second son of Erik the Red, he was on his way back from Norway to Greenland, where he had been sent by Olaf I Tryggvason to Christianize the natives (งใ 1000), when he sailed off course and landed probably at Nova Scotia, which he called Vinland. This standard account comes from the Icelandic Eiriks saga. Another account, the Groenlendinga saga, says he learned of Vinland from a man who had been there 14 years earlier and that Leif reached North America after 1000.