Leif Eriksson, the son of Erik the Red, was a Viking explorer. Leif was born in Iceland but lived in Greenland for the vast majority of his life. He had two brothers and a sister; Thorvald Eriksson, Thorstein Eriksson, and Freydis Eriksdottir. In 999 A.D., he sailed to Norway to bring gifts to the king. After a while, Leif converts to Christianity and King Olaf I Tryggvason sends Leif on a mission to convert Greenland to Christianity. In 1000 A.D., he and his crew (consisting of himself, his “foster father” Thyrker the German, and 14 others) are sent on another journey. Leif’s trusty crew was told to find and explore a new land explorer Bjarni Herjolfsson had found and been lost in for over a year. He reached the new land, which is now known as Newfoundland in Canada, in 1001. …show more content…
Leif, however, was NOT the leader of the Vikings in his lifetime. The only things Leif Eriksson led were his voyages to the new land (Canada, which he called Vinland), not the Vikings. This means that he is not responsible for the actions of the Viking raiders, but he is only responsible for leading his crew to and from Canada, so he will be defended as leader of his crew. Upon reaching Canada, Leif sends out most of his crew to explore the area around him. When the rest of the crew returns, Thyrker the German did not. The rest of the crew spent a day and a night searching for him, and when they find Thyrker, he says he discovered grapes. This is why they named the land “Vinland”. Later, Leif and his crew were ambushed by Native Americans, and the Viking explorers fled. Leif stayed for one winter and then never returned. There were a few groups of settlers who tried to settle in Canada after Leif returned to Greenland, but they were all killed or scared off by the same tribe of natives. The best group of settlers lasted 2