LEIF ERICKSSON DISCOVERER OF AMERICA? BY AWAKE! WRITER IN DENMARK

Leif Eriksson Sets Out

This may be how Europeans first set their eyes-though not their feet-on the mainland of the continent that was later to be known as North America.  The report of  what Bjarni had seen aroused a keen interest of fellow Norsemen in Greenland.  Their chilly land had few trees; to build and repair their boats and homes, they depended on driftwood or on the costly transport of lumber from overseas. But apparently just across the water to the west was a land with forests full of trees in untold numbers! 

Especially tempted by this new land was young Leif Eriksson , a son of Erik the Red. Leif was described as "a large, strong man, of very striking appearance and wise." About the year 1000, Leif Eriksson bought Bjarni's ship, and with a crw of 35 men, he set out to find the coasts Bjarni had seen.  

Three New Lands

If the sagas are accurate, Leif first found a grassless land, with larger glaciers covering the highlands. Because that land was like a single flat slab of rock, Leif named it Helluland-meaning "Stone-Slab Land."  This may have been the moment when Europeans first set foot on North America. Historians today believe that  Helluland was Baffin Island, in Northeaster Canada.

The Norse discoverers continued their journey south. They encountered a second land, which was flat and forested, with beaches of white sand. Leif called it Markland, meaning "Forest Land," today usually identified with Laborador.  Soon they discovered a third and even more promising land.  

The saga continues:  "They sailed out to sea and spent two days at sea with a northeasterly wind before they saw land." They found this new land so pleasant  that they decided to build houses and spend the winter there. During the winter, "the temperature  never dropped below freezing and the grass only withered very slightly."  Later, one of the men even found grapes and vines; hence, Leif Eriksson called the land Vinland, possibly meaning "Wineland." The following spring the mean sailed back to Greenland, their boats laden with the bounty of Vinland.

Scholars today would love to know just where this Vinland  of green pastures and grapes was, but its location remains elusive.  Some researchers in Newfoundland match the description in the ancient sagas.  A site excavated in Newfoundland shows that Norsemen did visit the island. Yet, other scientists hold that Vinland must have been farther south and that the site in Newfoundland served the Norsemen as a base camp or a gateway to a more southerly Vinland. 

Next time: LEIF ERIKSSON DISCOVERER OF AMERICA? -BY AWAKE! WRITER IN DENMARK/ HOW DID THE VIKINGS NAVIGATE?

From the Awake! magazine