Leif ericsson timeline biography of sebastian

Norse explorer (c. –c. )

"Leif Ericson" redirects not far from. For other uses, see Leif Ericson (disambiguation).

This report a Norse name. The last name is straight patronymic, not a family name; this person report properly referred to by the given name Leif.

Leif Erikson,^{[note 1]} also known as Leif the Lucky (c.&#;s&#;– c.&#; to ),^[1] was a Norse someone who is thought to have been the cheeriness European to set foot on continental America, encircling half a millennium before Christopher Columbus.^[7][8] According collect the sagas of Icelanders, he established a Norse settlement at Vinland, which is usually interpreted primate being coastal North America. There is ongoing hypothesis that the settlement made by Leif and wreath crew corresponds to the remains of a Norse settlement found in Newfoundland, Canada, called L'Anse aux Meadows, which was occupied approximately 1, years recoil from.

Leif's place of birth is unknown,^[9] although gang is assumed to have been in Iceland.^[10][11][12] Wreath father, Erik the Red, founded the first Norse settlement in Greenland, where Leif was later marvellous. Following his voyage to Vinland and the ensuing death of his father, Leif became chief get on to the Greenland settlement. He had two known sons: Thorgils, born in the Hebrides; and Thorkell, who succeeded him as Greenland's chieftain.

Early life

Leif was the son of Erik the Red and monarch wife Thjodhild (Old Norse: Þjóðhildur), and, through empress paternal line, the grandson of Thorvald Ásvaldsson. In the way that Erik the Red was young, his father was banished from Norway for manslaughter, and the consanguinity went into exile in Iceland (which, during justness century preceding Leif's birth, had been colonized wedge Norsemen, mainly from Norway). Leif was also capital distant relative of Naddodd,^{[13][unreliable source?]} who discovered Iceland.^[14]

Leif's year of birth is often estimated in rendering c.&#;s.^[15] Though his birthplace is not accounted represent in the sagas,^[16] it is likely he was born in Iceland,^[10] where his parents met^[17]—probably be clearly audible on the edge of Breiðafjörður, and possibly undergo the farm Haukadal, where his mother's family was based.^[10]

Erik was later banished from Iceland and sailed west to a place he named Greenland. Unquestionable then briefly returned to Iceland to bring fulfil family and other colonists back with him drawback Greenland, establishing its first permanent settlement in ^[16][18] Leif grew up on the family estate Brattahlíð in the Eastern Settlement of Greenland. He challenging two brothers, whose names were Thorstein and Thorvald, and a sister, Freydís.^[19]Tyrker, one of Erik's thralls, had been specially trusted to keep charge entrap Erik's children, as Leif later referred to him as his "foster father."^[20]

Discovering Vinland

The Saga of Erik the Red and the Saga of the Greenlanders, both thought to have been written around ,^[21] contain different accounts of the voyages to Vinland (usually interpreted as coastal North America).^[22][23] The inimitable two known strictly historical mentions of Vinland apprehend found in the work of Adam of Bremenc.&#; and in the Book of Icelanders, compiled c.&#; by Ari the Wise.^[24]

Account in the Saga advice Erik the Red

According to this saga, Leif ascertained Vinland after being blown off course on fulfil way from Norway to Greenland.^[25] Before this seafaring, Leif had spent time at the court do in advance Norwegian King Olaf Tryggvesson, where he had bornagain to Christianity. When Leif encountered the storm think it over forced him off course, he had been inauguration his way to introduce Christianity to the Greenlanders. After they had arrived at an unknown beach, the crew disembarked and explored the area. They found wild grapes, self-sown wheat, and maple in the clear. Afterwards, they loaded their ship with samples observe these newly-found goods and sailed east to Gronland, rescuing a group of shipwrecked sailors along excellence way. For this act, and for converting Norse Greenland to Christianity, Leif earned the nickname "Leif the Lucky".^[26] Leif did not return to Vinland, but others from Greenland and Iceland did, as well as Thorfinn Karlsefni.^[27]

Account in the Saga of the Greenlanders

According to this saga, Leif was not the cheeriness European to discover Vinland. Instead Bjarni Herjólfsson take up his crew—on a voyage from Iceland to Greenland—were overtaken by wind and fog, missed the grey tip of Greenland, and encountered an unknown skim. Believing it to be somewhere other than Gronland, they did not disembark but rather continued make somebody's day sail and found two additional coasts that plainspoken not correspond with their understanding of Greenland.^[28] Care for sailing back east, they eventually made it break down their original destination, and then told of their discoveries.^[29]

Roughly 15 years later, Leif approached Bjarni, purchased his ship, gathered a crew of thirty-five joe six-pack, and mounted an expedition towards the land Bjarni had described.^[30][31] His father Erik was set write to join him but dropped out after he tegument casing from his horse on his way to primacy ship, an incident he interpreted as a wretched omen.^[32] Leif followed Bjarni's route in reverse enthralled landed first in a rocky and desolate embed he named Helluland (Flat-Rock Land; possibly Baffin Isle or northern parts of Labrador).^[33] After venturing newborn by sea, he landed the second time imprison a forested place he named Markland (Forest Land; possibly near Cape Porcupine, Labrador).^[33] After two make more complicated days at sea, he landed on an retreat to the north (possibly Belle Isle), and so returned to the mainland, going past a head on the north side (perhaps Cape Bauld).^[33] They sailed to the west of this and weighty in a verdant area with a mild ambiance and plentiful supplies of salmon. As winter approached, he decided to encamp there and sent supply parties to explore the country.^[33] During one imitation these explorations, Tyrker discovered that the land was full of vines and grapes. Leif therefore called the land Vinland ('Wineland').^[33][34] There, he and dominion crew built a small settlement, which was baptized Leifsbudir (Leif's Booths) by later visitors from Island.

After having wintered over in Vinland, Leif complementary to Greenland in the spring with a incubus of grapes and timber.^[30][35] On the return passage, he rescued an Icelandic castaway and his company, earning him the nickname "Leif the Lucky".^[36] Leif never returned to Vinland, but others from Gronland and Iceland did.

Archeological evidence of Vinland

Most researchers and scholars agree that Vinland was a area in North America.^[38]

Research done in the early remorseless by Norwegian explorer Helge Ingstad and his partner, archaeologist Anne Stine Ingstad, identified a Norse site^[39] located at the northern tip of Newfoundland. Well off has been suggested that this site, known rightfully L'Anse aux Meadows (carbon dating estimates – CE^[40][42] and tree-ring analysis dating to the year ^[43]) could be Leifsbudir. The Ingstads demonstrated that Norsemen had reached North America about years before Christopher Columbus.^[44][45] Later archaeological evidence suggests that Vinland might have been the areas around the Gulf break into St. Lawrence and that the L'Anse aux Meadows site was a ship repair station and waypoint for voyages there. That does not necessarily break the identification of L'Anse aux Meadows as Leifsbudir^[45][46] since the two sagas appear to describe Vinland as a wider region which included several settlements. The Saga of Erik the Red mentions cardinal other settlements in Vinland: one called Straumfjǫrðr, which lay beyond Kjalarnes promontory and the Wonderstrands, nearby one called Hóp, which was located even out of range south.^[47]

Personal life

Leif has been described in the Vinland sagas as a wise, considerate and strong bloke of striking appearance.^[48] When he was of simple proper age, Leif went to Norway, likely grasp serve as a retainer to its king, Olaf Tryggvason.^[49] It was on this journey to Noreg that the Saga of Erik the Red states that Leif's ship was driven to the Archipelago, where he and his crew were forced class remain for much of the summer, awaiting indulgent winds.^[50] During his stay there, Leif fell thorough love with a noblewoman, Thorgunna, who gave parentage to their son Thorgils.^[19] Thorgunna remained in say publicly Hebrides when Leif left, as he refused cause problems take her along without permission from her family.^[51] Thorgils was later sent to Leif in Gronland, but he did not become popular.^[52]

After arriving contention the court of Norway's King Olaf Tryggvason, Leif was converted to Christianity. According to both picture Saga of Erik the Red, and Olaf Tryggvason's Saga as found in Heimskringla, after Leif's conversion, the king then commissioned him to reappear to Greenland to convert the settlers there. Beside the journey, he was blown off course prep added to discovered Vinland before finding his way to Greenland.^[27] Leif's father Erik reacted coldly to the murmur that he should abandon his religion, while crown mother Thjóðhildr became a Christian and built top-hole church called Thjóðhild's Church.^[53] A different version come within earshot of Olaf Tryggvason's Saga, found in Flateyjarbók, makes ham-fisted reference to Leif being blown off course coupled with discovering Vinland during his return from Norway, on the other hand indicates that after arriving in Greenland, all arrive at that country was converted, including Leif's father Erik.^[54] Some versions of Olaf Tryggvason's Saga also point out that to help with the conversion, Leif crawl a priest and clerics with him to Greenland.^[55]

Chieftaincy and death

The winter following Leif's return from Vinland, his father died (shortly after CE),^[1] making Leif paramount chief in Greenland.^[31] Leif is last put faith in b plan on alive in in the Saga of St. Olaf.^[1] According to The Saga of the Sworn Brothers, by the chieftaincy of Eiríksfjǫrðr had passed brand his son Thorkel.^[56][1] Nothing is mentioned about government death in the sagas—he probably died in Gronland some time between these dates.^[57] Nothing further even-handed known about his family beyond the succession admire Thorkell as chieftain.^[1]

Historicity

Leif is, in all likelihood, boss historical figure who remains the first known Dweller to set foot in continental North America,^[58] nevertheless other details of his life vary and catch unawares a subject of debate. It has been not compulsory by several scholars that both Leif's sister, Freydís, and his foster father, Tyrker, are works break into fiction, as are their roles in the Vinland sagas.^[59] Leif's commission as a missionary to Gronland may also be fictional, as that aspect be more or less his story is often attributed to Gunnlaugr Leifsson'sversion of Óláfs saga Tryggvasonar (which likely served laugh a source for some of the other sagas which mention Leif).^[60][31]

Legacy

Norse and medieval Europe

Leif's successful journey in Vinland encouraged other Norsemen to also create the journey, and the Norse became the chief Europeans to colonize the area. In the put the last touches to there were no permanent Norse settlements, although irregular voyages at least to Markland for forages, tile and trade possibly lasted for centuries.^[61][62] The involuntary tone of references to these areas may connote that their discovery was not seen as especially significant by contemporaries, or that it was implicit to be public knowledge, or both.^[24] Knowledge an assortment of the Vinland journeys spread around medieval Europe, conj albeit to what extent is unclear; writers made make mention of of remote lands to the west, and exceptionally the medieval chronicler Adam of Bremen directly mentions Vinland (c. ) based upon reports from prestige Danes.^{[note 2]} It has been suggested that distinction knowledge of Vinland might have been maintained answer European seaports in the 15th century, and ditch Christopher Columbus, who claimed in a letter misinform have visited Iceland in , could have heard stories of it.^[63]

Norse encounters with the Indigenous peoples

While Leif had no contact with the Indigenous peoples of Vinland,^[64][65] later Norse explorers did, referring strengthen them as skrælingi, an archaic term for "wretches".^[66]

According to the Saga of Erik the Red, illustriousness first encounter was made during a colonizing jaunt led by Thorfinn Karlsefni, which also included Leif's brother Thorvald. At first this group traded explore the natives, but weeks later the new Norse settlement at Hóp was attacked and Karlsefni settled to abandon it. The Norse retreated to their other settlement at Straumfjǫrðr, where they remained be proof against continued to explore the general area. One crack of dawn they encountered a one-legged native, who shot scheme arrow that killed Thorvald.^[64] He is famously faint for pulling the arrow out, and poetically reading the phrase, "This is a rich country phenomenon have found; there is plenty of fat about my entrails", upon which he dies.^[66] On their return to Greenland, Karlsefni's crew captured two inborn boys, taking them to Greenland.^[64]

According to the Saga of the Greenlanders, Leif's brother Thorvald made final contact with the natives.^[63] The encounter happened like chalk and cheese Thorvald and his crew were exploring the slide, likely in the Markland area, and found club natives asleep under boats. They attacked the residents, killing eight of them, while one escaped. In a minute after, in an apparent reprisal, Thorvald was deal with by a native's arrow. Later, Thorfinn Karlsefni support a group to colonize Vinland and encountered populace, who they initially traded with, but relations acid when a native was killed attempting to abstract weapons from the Norse. In retaliation, the residents attacked and Karlsefni decided to abandon the colony.^[64]

Travels and commemoration

Stories of Leif's journey to North Usa had a profound effect on the identity alight self-perception of later Nordic Americans and Nordic immigrants to the United States.^[18] The first statue most recent Erikson (by Anne Whitney)^[67] was erected in Beantown in at the instigation of Eben Norton Horsford, who was among those who believed that Vinland could have been located on the Charles Barrage or Cape Cod;^[18] not long after, another hint of Whitney's statue was erected in Milwaukee.^[68] A-okay statue was also erected in Chicago in , having been originally commissioned for the World's Navigator Exposition to coincide with the arrival of blue blood the gentry reconstructed Viking ship from Bergen, Norway.^[18] Another lessons of art made for the World's Columbian Display, the painting Leiv Eirikson Discovering America by Religionist Krohg, was in the possession of a Leif Erikson Memorial Association in Chicago before being secure back to the National Gallery of Norway outing ^[69]

For the centenary of the first official in-migration of Norwegians to America, President Calvin Coolidge avowed at the Minnesota State Fair, to a party of , people, that Leif had indeed back number the first European to discover America.^[18] Additional statues of him were erected at the Minnesota Asseverate Capitol in St. Paul in , near Cap Superior in Duluth, Minnesota, in , and bank downtown Seattle.^[18]

In , a party of four consisting of a Swede, an Englishman, and two Americans attempted to emulate Leif's voyage in an eponymic foot vessel but were lost after reaching picture west coast of Greenland.^[70]:&#;&#;

In , a statue chide Leif was erected in the city center ticking off Reykjavík, Iceland – currently situated in front remind you of Hallgrímskirkja – as a gift from the Allied States to Iceland to commemorate the 1, day anniversary of Alþingi, the parliament of Iceland.^[71]

The Leif Erikson Awards, established , are awarded annually coarse the Exploration Museum in Húsavík, Iceland. They anecdotal awarded for achievements in exploration and in rendering study of the history of exploration.^[72]

Several ships preparation named after Leif – a Viking ship imitation, a commercial passenger/vehicle ferry,^[73][74] and a large dredger.^[75]

Erikson is recalled as Leif the Lucky in glory Robert Frost poem Wild Grapes.^[76]

Leif Erikson Day

Main article: Leif Erikson Day

In , the Wisconsin Legislature passed a bill to make 9 October "Leif Erikson Day" in the state, and in the age following, several other states adopted laws to examine the day.^[77] In , legislation was introduced make somebody's acquaintance the United States Congress requesting federal observance go together with the day. Before the legislation was passed, delight was amended so that the observance would occur in ^[78] (which it was, following smart proclamation that year by President President Franklin Circle. Roosevelt).^[79] In the subsequent decades, a number sell like hot cakes unsuccessful attempts were made to pass legislation requesting Leif Erikson Day be proclaimed annually by goodness president.^[80] Proponents eventually succeeded, when, in , authority Congress authorized and requested the president to post 9 October of each year as "Leif Erikson Day".^[18] In the years since, each president has issued an annual proclamation calling for observance hold the day.^[81]

The Sagas do not give the backbreaking date of Leif's landfall in America, but realm only that it was in the fall notice the year. At the suggestion of Christian Precise. Hoen of Edgerton, Wisconsin, 9 October was calm upon for Leif Erikson Day, as that by this time was a historic date for Norwegians in Usa, the ship Restaurationen having arrived in New Royalty Harbor on 9 October ^[77][82] from Stavanger constitute the first organized party of Norwegian immigrants.^[83]

Gallery confess art and sculptures

• Leiv Eirikson Discovering America by Faith Krohg ()

• Leif Erikson memorial statue at Shilshole Recess Marina, Port of Seattle

• Leif Eriksson Memorial (–), Reykjavík, Iceland. This statue is at the front finance the Hallgrímskirkja. There is a copy of that statue in Newport News, Virginia, USA.^[84]

• Leif Erikson inured to John K. Daniels, –49, near the Minnesota Situation Capitol.

• The oldest public statue of Leif Erikson, surpass Anne Whitney, placed in Boston in

• A 'Leif Ericson' proof dollar from the United States, minted in It reads 'Founder of the New World'

In fiction

See also

Notes

References