- Leif Ericson lived from ~970 AD - ~1020 AD
- He is credited as the first European to reach North America, 500 years before Columbus
- He was a Norse explorer
- Born in Iceland
- Nicknamed Leif the Lucky because of his rescue of an Icelandic castaway
- There is not just one way to spell his last name ( Ericson, Erikson, Eriksson)
- Congress authorized October 9th to be Leif Erikson Day in 1964, to celebrate Leif's discovery of North America
- There are two theories on how Leif reached North America, one accidental, another being intentional.
- From the Saga of Erik the Red - he drifted off course to Vinland (modern day Nova Scotia)
- From the Saga of Greenlanders - he heard from Bjarni Herjólfsson who had been there before, and Leif traveled from Helluland (Baffin Island) to Markland (Labrador), then landing on Vinland.
- In either case, Leif was commissioned by Norwegian King Olaf I to spread Christianity.
- Evidence of an early viking settlement was found in (northern) Newfoundland (L'Anse-Aux-Meadows) in the 1960's that support the idea of a North American Explorer predating Columbus.
- Approximately, 2000 viking objects have been discovered there.
- When the vikings reached America, they found out there were native people there
- Naturally, with viking nature, conflict emerged
- Vikings raided native villages and killed them.
- Although, they did trade fur, cloth, and other goods between their groups
- Viking homes were made out of sod with clay floors
- Sod is the surface of ground with grass with roots still attached, which made for good insulation
- More conflict, either between the vikings themselves, or them and the natives, lead to the settlement being abandoned.
- It is speculated that Norsemen had been up to modern day Minnesota by either sailing across the Great Lakes or down the Hudson River
- Evidence of European influence on Mandan Indians comes in the form of a carved rune stone of Scandinavian nature dating to about 1030 AD
- Only hard evidence of the vikings reaching modern day USA is an 11th century Norse coin, the Maine Penny, discovered from a Native American trading center excavation, along with other viking artifacts.