Ericsson, Leif

Ericsson, Leif (11th century), Viking explorer.

Leif Ericsson was the son of Eric the Red and his story is told in a Viking poem called Erik Rauda.

Eric the Red discovered Greenland and from there, in about 1001 his son, Leif the Lucky, sailed westwards and discovered North America.

He found a place worth settling in called Vinland and today this is thought to have been New England.

Leif was the first European to discover America, almost 500 years before Christopher Columbus set sail, but he had no idea of the size and dimensions of the great continents.

See Ingri Daulaire Leif, the Lucky