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58-639: The name Helluland was given by Leif Erikson during his voyage to Vinland according to the Greenland Saga and means "Land of Flat Rocks/Stones" in Old Norse . Helluland was said to be the first of three lands in North America visited by Eriksson. He decided against trying to settle there because he found the land inhospitable. He continued south to Markland (probably Labrador ) and Vinland (possibly Newfoundland ). The Saga of Erik

116-420: A Norse site located at the northern tip of Newfoundland. It has been suggested that this site, known as L'Anse aux Meadows (carbon dating estimates 990–1050 CE and tree-ring analysis dating to the year 1021 ) could be Leifsbudir. The Ingstads demonstrated that Norsemen had reached North America about 500 years before Christopher Columbus . Later archaeological evidence suggests that Vinland may have been

174-750: A Senior Scientist at the National Museum of Natural History , wrote that there is insufficient published evidence to support Sutherland's claims, and that the Dorset were using spun cordage by the 6th century. In 1992, Elizabeth Wayland Barber wrote that a piece of three-ply yarn that dates to the Paleolithic era, that ended about 10,000 BP, was found at the Lascaux caves in France. This yarn consisted of three s-twist strands that were z-plied, much like

232-519: A crew of thirty-five men, and mounted an expedition towards the land Bjarni had described. His father Erik was set to join him but dropped out after he fell from his horse on his way to the ship, an incident he interpreted as a bad omen. Leif followed Bjarni's route in reverse and landed first in a rocky and desolate place he named Helluland (Flat-Rock Land; possibly Baffin Island or northern parts of Labrador). After venturing further by sea, he landed

290-622: A crowd of 100,000 people, that Leif had indeed been the first European to discover America. Additional statues of him were erected at the Minnesota State Capitol in St. Paul in 1949, near Lake Superior in Duluth, Minnesota , in 1956, and in downtown Seattle . In 1924, a party of four consisting of a Swede, an Englishman, and two Americans attempted to emulate Leif's voyage in an eponymous 40-foot vessel but were lost after reaching

348-605: A letter to have visited Iceland in 1477, could have heard stories of it. While Leif had no contact with the Indigenous peoples of Vinland, later Norse explorers did, referring to them as skrælingi , an archaic term for "wretches". According to the Saga of Erik the Red , the first encounter was made during a colonizing expedition led by Thorfinn Karlsefni, which also included Leif's brother Thorvald. At first this group traded with

406-542: A medical missionary and scholar living in Newfoundland and Labrador in the early 20th century wrote in his work "The Romance of Labrador" that Helluland likely corresponds to Kangalaksiorvik Bay , a fiord around 100 miles (161 km) south of the Torngat Mountains . He described its south side as home to "endless acres of flat stones", south of which lie the wooded Markland and, further south, Vinland

464-577: A sister, Freydís . Tyrker , one of Erik's thralls , had been specially trusted to keep charge of Erik's children, as Leif later referred to him as his "foster father." The Saga of Erik the Red and the Saga of the Greenlanders , both thought to have been written around 1200, contain different accounts of the voyages to Vinland (usually interpreted as coastal North America). The only two known strictly historical mentions of Vinland are found in

522-596: Is mentioned about his death in the sagas—he probably died in Greenland some time between these dates. Nothing further is known about his family beyond the succession of Thorkell as chieftain. Leif is, in all likelihood, a historical figure who remains the first known European to set foot in continental North America, but other details of his life vary and are a subject of debate. It has been suggested by several scholars that both Leif's sister, Freydís, and his foster father, Tyrker, are works of fiction, as are their roles in

580-501: Is viewed by the local Inuit as a desecration and robbery. This led to the remains of 113 Inuit – 100 from Rose Island and 13 from Upernavik Island being repatriated and reburied in a common grave in 1995. A further 11 Inuit remains were repatriated in a special ceremony on August 16, 2011, attended by the Honourable Kathy Dunderdale, Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador, and Nunatsiavut President Jim Lyall. Since

638-549: The Hebrides , where he and his crew were forced to remain for much of the summer, awaiting favorable winds. During his stay there, Leif fell in love with a noblewoman, Thorgunna, who gave birth to their son Thorgils. Thorgunna remained in the Hebrides when Leif left, as he refused to take her along without permission from her family. Thorgils was later sent to Leif in Greenland, but he did not become popular. After arriving at

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696-580: The Skuggifjord (Hudson Strait), it is in Helluland's Obygdir (uninhabited regions)... he has gone there because he wishes to escape you. But now you may track him to his house if you wish and see what comes of it." "Thereupon he (and his son Vignor in separate ships) sailed until they came into the Greenland Sea (which lay between Iceland and Greenland) when they turned south and sailed around

754-525: The Wonderstrands , and one called Hóp, which was located even farther south. Leif has been described in the Vinland sagas as a wise, considerate and strong man of striking appearance. When he was of a proper age, Leif went to Norway, likely to serve as a retainer to its king, Olaf Tryggvason . It was on this journey to Norway that the Saga of Erik the Red states that Leif's ship was driven to

812-584: The 1893 World's Columbian Exposition, the painting Leiv Eirikson Discovering America by Christian Krohg , was in the possession of a Leif Erikson Memorial Association in Chicago before being given back to the National Gallery of Norway in 1900. For the centenary of the first official immigration of Norwegians to America, President Calvin Coolidge stated at the 1925 Minnesota State Fair , to

870-547: The Dorset natives in the area. Sutherland's new findings further strengthen the case for a Viking camp on Baffin Island. "While her evidence was compelling before, I find it convincing now," said James Tuck , professor emeritus of archaeology, ... at Memorial University ." Sutherland and the Helluland Archaeology Project among others have identified several potential pre-Columbian European archaeological sites including Tanfield Valley , Avayalik at

928-456: The Good . In 2018, Michele Hayeur Smith of Brown University, who specializes in the study of ancient textiles , wrote that she does not think the ancient Arctic people, the Dorset and Thule, needed to be taught how to spin yarn: "It's a pretty intuitive thing to do." Journal of Archaeological Science , August 2018: ". . . the date received on Sample 4440b from Nanook clearly indicates that sinew

986-496: The Greenland settlement. He had two known sons: Thorgils, born in the Hebrides ; and Thorkell, who succeeded him as Greenland's chieftain. Leif was the son of Erik the Red and his wife Thjodhild ( Old Norse : Þjóðhildur), and, through his paternal line, the grandson of Thorvald Ásvaldsson . When Erik the Red was young, his father was banished from Norway for manslaughter, and the family went into exile in Iceland (which, during

1044-461: The Markland area, and found nine natives asleep under boats. They attacked the natives, killing eight of them, while one escaped. Shortly after, in an apparent reprisal, Thorvald was killed by a native's arrow. Later, Thorfinn Karlsefni led a group to colonize Vinland and encountered natives, who they initially traded with, but relations soured when a native was killed attempting to steal weapons from

1102-569: The Norse. In retaliation, the natives attacked and Karlsefni decided to abandon the colony. Stories of Leif's journey to North America had a profound effect on the identity and self-perception of later Nordic Americans and Nordic immigrants to the United States. The first statue of Erikson (by Anne Whitney ) was erected in Boston in 1887 at the instigation of Eben Norton Horsford , who

1160-717: The Red, 1880 translation into English by J. Sephton from the original Icelandic 'Eiríks saga rauða'. "They sailed away from land; then to the Vestribygd and to Bjarneyjar (the Bear Islands). Thence they sailed away from Bjarneyjar with northerly winds. They were out at sea two half-days. Then they came to land, and rowed along it in boats, and explored it, and found there flat stones, many and so great that two men might well lie on them stretched on their backs with heel to heel. Polar-foxes were there in abundance. This land they gave name to, and called it Helluland (stone-land)." In

1218-512: The Saga of Halfdan Eysteinsson ( Hálfdanar saga Eysteinssonar ), written no earlier than the mid-14th century a fragment says: "Ragnar brought Helluland's obygdir under his sway and destroyed all the giants there..." Written in the last half of the 13th century an anonymous Icelandic fornaldarsaga , describes the attempts of Örvar-Oddr and his son Vignor to track down an enemy named Ogmund: "I will tell you where Ogmund has gone. He has gone into

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1276-593: The Vinland journeys spread around medieval Europe, although to what extent is unclear; writers made mention of remote lands to the west, and notably the medieval chronicler Adam of Bremen directly mentions Vinland (c. 1075) based upon reports from the Danes . It has been suggested that the knowledge of Vinland might have been maintained in European seaports in the 15th century, and that Christopher Columbus, who claimed in

1334-403: The Vinland sagas. Leif's commission as a missionary to Greenland may also be fictional, as that aspect of his story is often attributed to Gunnlaugr Leifsson's version of Óláfs saga Tryggvasonar (which likely served as a source for some of the other sagas which mention Leif). Leif's successful expedition in Vinland encouraged other Norsemen to also make the journey , and the Norse became

1392-577: The areas around the Gulf of St. Lawrence and that the L'Anse aux Meadows site was a ship repair station and waypoint for voyages there. That does not necessarily contradict the identification of L'Anse aux Meadows as Leifsbudir since the two sagas appear to describe Vinland as a wider region which included several settlements. The Saga of Erik the Red mentions two other settlements in Vinland: one called Straumfjǫrðr , which lay beyond Kjalarnes promontory and

1450-476: The century preceding Leif's birth, had been colonized by Norsemen, mainly from Norway). Leif was also a distant relative of Naddodd , who discovered Iceland. Leif's year of birth is often estimated in the c.  970 s. Though his birthplace is not accounted for in the sagas , it is likely he was born in Iceland, where his parents met —probably somewhere on the edge of Breiðafjörður , and possibly at

1508-469: The conversion, Leif brought a priest and clerics with him to Greenland. The winter following Leif's return from Vinland, his father died (shortly after 1000 CE), making Leif paramount chief in Greenland. Leif is last mentioned alive in 1018 in the Saga of St. Olaf . According to The Saga of the Sworn Brothers , by 1025 the chieftaincy of Eiríksfjǫrðr had passed to his son Thorkel. Nothing

1566-414: The country. During one of these explorations, Tyrker discovered that the land was full of vines and grapes. Leif therefore named the land Vinland ('Wineland'). There, he and his crew built a small settlement, which was called Leifsbudir (Leif's Booths) by later visitors from Greenland. After having wintered over in Vinland, Leif returned to Greenland in the spring with a cargo of grapes and timber. On

1624-498: The court of Norway's King Olaf Tryggvason, Leif was converted to Christianity. According to both the Saga of Erik the Red, and Olaf Tryggvason's Saga as found in Heimskringla , after Leif's conversion, the king then commissioned him to return to Greenland to convert the settlers there. During the journey, he was blown off course and discovered Vinland before finding his way to Greenland. Leif's father Erik reacted coldly to

1682-537: The day. In 1935, legislation was introduced to the United States Congress requesting federal observance of the day. Before the legislation was passed, it was amended so that the observance would only occur in 1935 (which it was, following a proclamation that year by President President Franklin D. Roosevelt ). In the subsequent decades, a number of unsuccessful attempts were made to pass legislation requesting Leif Erikson Day be proclaimed annually by

1740-612: The far north of the Labrador Peninsula , Willows Island at the southern part of Baffin Island, Pond Inlet (Nunguvik) in the far north of Baffin Island. When Sutherland was asked if she might have been fired from the Canadian Museum of Civilization, now the Canadian Museum of History , because her research was out of step with government views of Canadian history, Sutherland agreed. Sir Wilfred Grenfell ,

1798-531: The farm Haukadal , where his mother's family was based. Erik was later banished from Iceland and sailed west to a place he named Greenland . He then briefly returned to Iceland to bring his family and other colonists back with him to Greenland, establishing its first permanent settlement in 986. Leif grew up on the family estate Brattahlíð in the Eastern Settlement of Greenland. He had two brothers, whose names were Thorstein and Thorvald , and

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1856-413: The first Europeans to colonize the area. In the end there were no permanent Norse settlements, although sporadic voyages at least to Markland for forages, timber and trade possibly lasted for centuries. The casual tone of references to these areas may suggest that their discovery was not seen as particularly significant by contemporaries, or that it was assumed to be public knowledge, or both. Knowledge of

1914-756: The hair and also from the sinews of native terrestrial grazing animals, most likely musk ox and arctic hare, throughout the Middle Dorset period and for at least a millennium before there is any reasonable evidence of European activity in the islands of the North Atlantic or in the North American Arctic." William W. Fitzhugh , Director of the Arctic Studies Center at the Smithsonian Institution , and

1972-600: The land and to the west... They sailed then until they came to Helluland and laid their course into the Skuggifjord..." "When they reached the land (which they were seeking in the Skuggifjord) father and son went ashore and walked until they saw a fortified structure very strongly built..." According to a footnote in Arthur Middleton Reeves' The Norse Discovery of America (1906), "the whole of

2030-573: The late 1960s, Tuck focused his archaeological work in Newfoundland and Labrador. His early work included unearthing the Maritime Archaic burial ground at Port au Choix . From 1977 until the late 1980s he excavated the sixteenth century Basque whaling station at Red Bay Labrador. Starting in 1969 he led teams that excavated Inuit graves on Rose Island which is now in Torngat Mountains National Park. which

2088-677: The late 1980s, Tuck worked on unearthing the Province of Avalon located at Ferryland . To date the dig has found and catalogued over two million artifacts from the 4-acre (16,000 m ) site. Tuck was a supporter of Patricia Sutherland 's controversial theory that there was European contact with the Dorset on Baffin Island , Canada , hundreds of years before the Norse started settling in Greenland in 985 CE. He died on May 10, 2019, at

2146-401: The natives, but weeks later the new Norse settlement at Hóp was attacked and Karlsefni decided to abandon it. The Norse retreated to their other settlement at Straumfjǫrðr, where they remained and continued to explore the general area. One morning they encountered a one-legged native, who shot an arrow that killed Thorvald. He is famously known for pulling the arrow out, and poetically reciting

2204-479: The northern coast of America, west of Greenland, was called by the ancient Icelandic geographers Helluland it Mikla, or Great Helluland; and the island of Newfoundland simply Helluland, or Litla Helluland." The Icelandic Saga of Erik the Red and the Greenland Saga characterized Helluland as a land of flat stones ( Old Norse : hella ). Most scholars agree that Helluland corresponds to Baffin Island in

2262-411: The phrase, "This is a rich country we have found; there is plenty of fat around my entrails", upon which he dies. On their return to Greenland, Karlsefni's crew captured two native boys, taking them to Greenland. According to the Saga of the Greenlanders , Leif's brother Thorvald made first contact with the natives. The encounter happened while Thorvald and his crew were exploring the coast, likely in

2320-535: The potential that the Norse had settled on Baffin Island. Over a number of years searching in collections and digging at sites such as Tanfield Valley , she found numerous artifacts, such as tally sticks, signs of iron and bronze metallurgy and whetstones used for sharpening metal tools, and European-style masonry and turf construction, which indicated to her that the Vikings had been on Baffin for an extended period and likely had an established trading relationship with

2378-564: The present-day Canadian territory of Nunavut . From the testimony of the sagas, the Norse explorers probably made contact with the native Dorset culture of the region, people whom the sagas term skrælings . Historians suggest the contact had no major cultural ramifications for either side. Patricia Sutherland , of the Canadian Museum of Civilization , found in the museum's collections yarn collected in archaeological digs on Baffin Island that corresponded to that found in Norse settlements in Greenland , which led her to explore in depth

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2436-515: The president. Proponents eventually succeeded, when, in 1964, the Congress authorized and requested the president to proclaim 9 October of each year as "Leif Erikson Day". In the years since, each president has issued an annual proclamation calling for observance of the day. The Sagas do not give the exact date of Leif's landfall in America, but state only that it was in the fall of the year. At

2494-496: The remains of a Norse settlement found in Newfoundland, Canada , called L'Anse aux Meadows , which was occupied approximately 1,000 years ago. Leif's place of birth is unknown, although it is assumed to have been in Iceland . His father, Erik the Red , founded the first Norse settlement in Greenland , where Leif was later raised. Following his voyage to Vinland and the subsequent death of his father, Leif became chief of

2552-453: The return voyage, he rescued an Icelandic castaway and his crew, earning him the nickname "Leif the Lucky". Leif never returned to Vinland, but others from Greenland and Iceland did. Most researchers and scholars agree that Vinland was a region in North America. Research done in the early 1960s by Norwegian explorer Helge Ingstad and his wife, archaeologist Anne Stine Ingstad , identified

2610-494: The second time in a forested place he named Markland (Forest Land; possibly near Cape Porcupine, Labrador ). After two more days at sea, he landed on an island to the north (possibly Belle Isle ), and then returned to the mainland, going past a cape on the north side (perhaps Cape Bauld ). They sailed to the west of this and landed in a verdant area with a mild climate and plentiful supplies of salmon. As winter approached, he decided to encamp there and sent out parties to explore

2668-459: The southern tip of Greenland, and encountered an unknown coast. Believing it to be somewhere other than Greenland, they did not disembark but rather continued to sail and found two additional coasts that did not correspond with their understanding of Greenland. After sailing back east, they eventually made it to their original destination, and then told of their discoveries. Roughly 15 years later, Leif approached Bjarni, purchased his ship, gathered

2726-406: The storm that forced him off course, he had been on his way to introduce Christianity to the Greenlanders. After they had arrived at an unknown shore, the crew disembarked and explored the area. They found wild grapes, self-sown wheat, and maple trees. Afterwards, they loaded their ship with samples of these newly-found goods and sailed east to Greenland, rescuing a group of shipwrecked sailors along

2784-565: The study of the history of exploration. Several ships are named after Leif – a Viking ship replica , a commercial passenger/vehicle ferry , and a large dredger . Erikson is recalled as Leif the Lucky in the Robert Frost poem Wild Grapes. In 1929, the Wisconsin Legislature passed a bill to make 9 October "Leif Erikson Day" in the state, and in the years following, several other states adopted laws to observe

2842-504: The suggestion of Christian A. Hoen of Edgerton, Wisconsin , 9 October was settled upon for Leif Erikson Day, as that already was a historic date for Norwegians in America, the ship Restaurationen having arrived in New York Harbor on 9 October 1825 from Stavanger with the first organized party of Norwegian immigrants. James Tuck (archaeologist) James A. Tuck , ONL FRSC (June 28, 1940 – May 10, 2019)

2900-575: The suggestion that he should abandon his religion, while his mother Thjóðhildr became a Christian and built a church called Thjóðhild's Church. A different version of Olaf Tryggvason's Saga , found in Flateyjarbók , makes no reference to Leif being blown off course and discovering Vinland during his return from Norway, but indicates that after arriving in Greenland, all of that country was converted, including Leif's father Erik. Some versions of Olaf Tryggvason's Saga also indicate that to help with

2958-513: The way a three-ply yarn is made now, whereas the Baffin Island yarn was a simple two-ply yarn. The eight sod buildings and artifacts found in the 1960s at L'Anse aux Meadows , located on the northern tip of Newfoundland , remains the only confirmed Norse site in North America outside of those found in Greenland. Leif Erikson Leif Erikson , also known as Leif the Lucky ( c.  970s  – c.  1018 to 1025 ),

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3016-426: The way. For this act, and for converting Norse Greenland to Christianity, Leif earned the nickname "Leif the Lucky". Leif did not return to Vinland, but others from Greenland and Iceland did, including Thorfinn Karlsefni . According to this saga, Leif was not the first European to discover Vinland. Instead Bjarni Herjólfsson and his crew—on a voyage from Iceland to Greenland—were overtaken by wind and fog, missed

3074-591: The west coast of Greenland. In 1930, a statue of Leif was erected in the city center of Reykjavík, Iceland – currently situated in front of Hallgrímskirkja – as a gift from the United States to Iceland to commemorate the 1,000 year anniversary of Alþingi , the parliament of Iceland. The Leif Erikson Awards , established 2015, are awarded annually by the Exploration Museum in Húsavík , Iceland. They are awarded for achievements in exploration and in

3132-500: The work of Adam of Bremen c.  1075 and in the Book of Icelanders , compiled c.  1122 by Ari the Wise . According to this saga, Leif discovered Vinland after being blown off course on his way from Norway to Greenland. Before this voyage, Leif had spent time at the court of Norwegian King Olaf Tryggvesson , where he had converted to Christianity. When Leif encountered

3190-413: Was a Norse explorer who is thought to have been the first European to set foot on continental America , approximately half a millennium before Christopher Columbus . According to the sagas of Icelanders , he established a Norse settlement at Vinland , which is usually interpreted as being coastal North America. There is ongoing speculation that the settlement made by Leif and his crew corresponds to

3248-604: Was among those who believed that Vinland could have been located on the Charles River or Cape Cod ; not long after, another casting of Whitney's statue was erected in Milwaukee . A statue was also erected in Chicago in 1901, having been originally commissioned for the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition to coincide with the arrival of the reconstructed Viking ship from Bergen , Norway. Another work of art made for

3306-534: Was an American-born archaeologist whose work as a faculty member of the Memorial University of Newfoundland was focused on the early history of Newfoundland and Labrador . Tuck was born in Buffalo, New York in 1940; he received a doctoral degree from Syracuse University . He subsequently began teaching and practicing archaeology as a faculty member at Memorial University of Newfoundland . Since

3364-475: Was being spun and plied at least as early, if not earlier, than yarn at this site. We feel that the most parsimonious explanation of this data is that the practice of spinning hair and wool into plied yarn most likely developed naturally within this context of complex, indigenous, Arctic fiber technologies, and not through contact with European textile producers. [. . .] Our investigations indicate that Paleoeskimo (Dorset) communities on Baffin Island spun threads from

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