There
is very good evidence that the Vikings journeyed to America about 491 years before Columbus. It is not quite so clear who was the leader of
the first Viking expedition to land in North America. The main evidence
for this is from the Icelandic Sagas, and they are not completely consistent about the question
of whether Leif Erikson was the first, or whether other Vikings had
landed there before him. This is an account of the life of Leif
Eriksson based mainly on one of these sagas.
Leif Eriksson was born in Iceland
in about 960 ad. He was the son of Eric the Red, but does not appear to
have had his father's bad habit of killing people which had earned him
the name "The Red". It is interesting that Erik's father had also been
banished for killing a man
From the ages of eight to twelve Leif
was raised and taught by an extremely well educated man named Thyrker.
After that he went back to his father's house.
After Eric the Red was banished from Icelandfor three years (He could not go to Norway because he had already been
banished from there) Erik set sail, together with his son Leif, and
discovered Greenland.
After the three years were up, Erik visited Iceland and told people how good Greenland was. Iceland was going through a bad time and many people went to Greenland.
Leif
became known for his prowess involving sailing and things to do with
the sea. He watched the ship of Bjarni Hergelfson limping into port
after being lost for over a year. Bjarni told Leif and the others how
they had got lost, and had sighted several unknown lands before finding
their way to Greenland.
At 24 years old, Leif was sent as captain of a ship to Norway, bearing gifts for King Olaf.
The
ship was diverted by a storm and blown off course. The landed on an
island in the Hebrides and Leif stayed in the house of the island's
ruler. When the left the ruler's daughter, Thurgoona, told Leif the she
was pregnant with his child. After their son was born he was named
Thorgils. Thorgils later travelled to Greenland and lived with his
father.
After Leif finally got to Norway he was converted to
Christianity. When he returned to Greenland Leif took a priest to
spread Christianity to Greenland.
In Greenland Leif decided to
explore and try to find the lands Bjarni Hergelfson had seen. He bought
Bjarni's boat and sailed 600 miles before he found a land with rock and
glaciers. This was probably Baffin Island. Leif was not impressed and
set out again.
The next place leif landed on was probably the Eastern Coast of Canada.
After that Leif sailed on again and found a very fertile land. This land even had grapes growing in it.
The
Vikings built houses, loaded their boat and decided to overwinter in
this place. The winter was much warmer than they were used to and the
days did not get very short like they did in the Greenland winter.
Leif
named this land 'Vinland' which is often translated as 'wine land'
although there is uncertainty about this. This has been identified as
being probably L'Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland. Evidence has been
found there of a Viking settlement.
Some of the sagas suggest
that the Vikings explored as far south as Florida although no concrete evidence has been found of this.
Curiously the Vikings did not
keep up their settlements in America and apparently only continued
going there for about three years.
Despite their reputation, the
Vikings were on mostly good terms with the native inhabitants of America, although some things suggest that at least one Viking
settlement was attacked. This may have been due to incompatibility of
food.
The Vikings were a major trading people and apparently
traded their food with the people of the land. This included milk. (The
Vikings took cows with them.) People who have not had milk since they
were babies lose the ability to digest it and the people would have got
upset stomachs. They may have believed the Vikings had tried to poison
them.
One
of the problems of growing old is that I remember things but do not
remember how I know them. So, for example, although I have known for
many years that Leif Erikson discovered America about a thousand years
ago, and the he was the son of Erik The Red, the discoverer of
Greenland, I have no idea when I was first told these things. More
recently, my daughter's partner, Erik Andersson, told me that Erik The
Red got the name "The Red" from the amount of blood he spilt, and the
name had nothing to do with the colour of his hair.
Other sources used are Erik The Red and Leif Eriksson, Leif Erikson, By Kevin A Weitemier and Vikings in America.
Note that Eric
the Red is often spelt with a "c". I have used this letter in Leif's
name in the title because this is what most people would look for, but
the normal Scandinavian spelling is "Erik" with a "k" so I have used this in most of the article.
The
reason I became interested in this subject was that I read an article
denying the possibility of a methane runaway greenhouse effect, as
described in The Methane Gun because a thousand years ago Greenland was warm enough to grow grapes.
I thought that this incorrect, and rather it was explorers who set out
from Greenland who found the grapes, but further south.
Population Growth & Evolution 
