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Leif Ericson List of Categories
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Do you have any pictures of Leif Ericson?
Well, Leif was around LONG before photography was around, so we don't have any real idea of what he looked like. :) However, the picture of the statue in Iceland can give you a good idea of what he might have looked like.
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Why are there so many variations of his name? (Erikson, Ericson, Ericsson, etc.)
Back when Leif was alive, only the really wealthy were able to write, so most stories and information - like names - were passed down through spoken language. When history started to get written down, the people doing the writing would put their own interpretation of how the name should be spelled.
Our organization uses the spelling "Ericson".
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Can you tell me about his life?
Little exists of his life, with the exception that in 997 he traveled to Norway via the Hebrides where he took a mistress, Thorgunna, who bore him a son, Thorgils. He continued on to Norway that fall and wintered with King Olaf Tryggvason. In the spring of 998, he returned to Greenland, bringing priests with him and engaging in missionary activities. Of course, around the year 1000, he made a trip of exploration to North America, locating three distinct areas: Helluland (believed to be Baffin Island), Markland (the Labrador coast) and Vinland (believed to be Newfoundland).On his return, he saved a shipwrecked family, earning the name “Leif the Lucky”. He only visited North America once, while his brothers and brothers in law visited several times.
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When was he born? When did he die?
Leif Ericson was born in Iceland in the year 971, the exact date is not known. I have only found one reference to Leif's death which mentions 1021 as his death year.
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Where do i find a map of Leif Ericson's Travels
There are several maps about Vikings and Leif Ericson and there respective voyages.
Most recently, in 2000, National Geographic published a map entitled "Millennium in Maps: Exploration", which showed the Viking voyages in their known world including Leif Ericson's voyage to North America!
Another map you may have heard about is the disputed "Vinland Map". This map was alleged to show the North American discoveries and explorations made by Leif and his family members, but is thought to be a recently made fake antique! It is widely disputed by experts in the field of maps, so we can't claim that it has any authenticity.
Another map which I have seen was in a book written in the late 1940's (before the discovery of the Viking Settlement in L'anse aux Meadows, Newfoundland, which shows routes both around and near Newfoundland, and also into the Hudson's Bay area, supporting the thoughts of the Kensington Runestone, which is also regarded as a recent fake, and almost more controversial as the Vinland map.
We will try to obtain permission to enter some of these maps on our website in the near future.
Thank you for writing.
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