Journeys of Leif Ericson

Journeys of Leif Ericson Leif Ericson was the European to reach North America. Leif reached North America almost 500 years before Christopher Columbus finds North America. Leif Ericson was born in Iceland around 970 – 980. Leif traveled from Greenland to Norway in 999. Leif first saw Vinland when he got blown off course on his to introduce the religion Christianity to Greenland. He was not the first though. There was someone before him that sighted the land west of Greenland after he got blown off course too. The other guy that saw the land never actually made it to land. But there were also two men who were ship wrecked on that land. Leif brought them to Greenland with him and Christianized the people there. Leif bought Bjarni’s ship and headed towards the land he described that was west of Greenland. He first landed in a rocky place he had named Helluland. He landed a second time in a forest he called Markland. After another couple of days at sea he landed at a place he called Vinland. Leif stayed at Vinland through the winter and in the spring when he went back to Greenland he had a cargo of grapes and timber (wood). Also on Leif’s return journey home he rescued an Icelandic castaway and his crew. Doing so he earned the nickname Leif the Lucky. Leif Ericson died around 1020 in Greenland. Before he died he had two sons one took over his chieftaincy and the other started preaching Christianity to the Greenlanders. Leif’s wife built a church and named it after herself.

Bibliography
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leif_Ericson

Bibliography: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leif_Ericson