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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 |