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Leif Ericson ('' 980 – ''c.'' 1020 ) was a Icelandic explorer, and the first Europe an known to have discovered North America —more specifically, the region that would become Newfoundland and, by later extension, Canada . in Reykjavík , Iceland . It was a gift from the United States government.]] It is said to this day that Leif was born around -Icelandic Outlaw , himself the son of another Norwegian outlaw, Þorvaldr Ásvaldsson . Leif's mother was Þjóðhildr. Erik had started two Norse colonies, the Western Settlement and the Eastern Settlement, in Greenland , which he had named. As far as it is known, Leif Ericson had two brothers, Þorvaldr and Þorsteinn , and one sister, Freydís . Leif married a woman by the name of Þórgunnr, and they had one son, Þorkell Leifsson . During a stay in Norway, Leif was converted to Christianity , like many Norse around that time. He also went to Norway to serve the King Of Norway , Olaf Tryggvason . When he returned to Greenland, he bought the boat of Bjarni Herjólfsson , and set out to explore the land that Bjarni had found, today known as North America. The '' ("Land of the Flat Stones"), probably the present day Baffin Island . Next he came to a land that was flat and wooded, with white sandy beaches, which he called Markland ("Wood-land"), usually assumed to have been Labrador . When Leif and his crew left Markland and found land again, they landed and built some houses. They found the land pleasant: there were plenty of Salmon in the river, and the climate was mild, with little frost in the winter, and green grass year-round. They remained at this place over the winter. The sagas mention that one of Leif's men, Tyrkir, possibly a German warrior, found Grape s, and that Leif named the country Vínland after them. On the return voyage, Leif rescued an Icelandic castaway named Þórir and his crew — an incident that earned Leif the Nickname 'Leif the Lucky' (Old Norse: ''Leifr hinn heppni''). Research done in the 1950s and 1960s by explorer Helge Ingstad and his wife, archaeologist Anne Stine , strongly suggests that the settlement of Leif Ericson and his party in Vínland was actually the tip of Newfoundland later known as L'Anse Aux Meadows . In 1964 , President Of The United States Lyndon B. Johnson declared October 9 to be " Leif Erikson Day " in the United States . Leif Erikson is also the title of a song by Indie-rock group Interpol. Notes # Note|saga-of-eric-the-red}} Another saga, '' The Saga Of Eric The Red '', relates that it was actually Leif who discovered the American mainland while returning from Norway to Greenland in 1000 or thereabouts; but the saga does not mention any attempts to settle there. However, the ''Saga of the Greenlanders'' is considered to be the more reliable of the two. See also External links
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