Copy of Erik The Red

Leif Eriksson was banished from Norway for manslaughter and went into exile in Iceland accompanied by young Erik. When Erik was himself banished from Iceland, he travelled further west to an area he named Greenland, where he established the first permanent settlement in 986.

SETTLEMENT

ERIK THE RED

• Erik and 400 to 500 settlers in 14 ships arrived to settle Greenland in 986.

• They settled in Brattahlid, the Eastern Settlement and Nuuk, the Western Settlement. After doing well for a while, the settlements experienced unusually cold weather.

• Some of the settlers went back to Iceland, but the rest of the settlers disappeared. It is thought that either the Inuit people attacked the settlers or they died from epidemics and starvation.

• Erik had a daughter and three sons, one of which was Leif Eriksson who was possibly the first European to sail to North America.
• Around the year 1000, Eriksson sailed from Greenland to Norway where he served in the court of King Olaf I Tryggvason, who converted him from Norse paganism to Christianity.
• Eriksson is generally credited as the first European to set foot on the shores of North America, nearly five centuries before Christopher Columbus would arrive in 1492.
• Early viking ruins found in Newfoundland have been considered proof of Leifs presence in the New World before Columbus.

The blue line shows Erik the Red's path to Nuuk

INTRODUCTION

Erik the Red (whose real name was Erik Thorvaldsson), is remembered in history as having founded the first European settlement in Greenland.

He was born in Rogaland, Norway in around 950 AD.

He was known as Erik "The Red" because he had red hair.

• Popular history often says that Erik was the first person to discover Greenland however, other Vikings discovered and tried to settle it before him.

DISCOVERIES

• Gunnbjorn Ulfsson had the first sighting of Greenland nearly 100 years before Erik.

• But since Gunnbjorn discovered Greenland by accident due to strong winds blowing him off course he is often not considered to have discovered it.

• Erik the Red was the first permanent European settler of Greenland.

• Erik the red was banished from Iceland for three years for murdering two people.

• In 982 He set off for some islands close to Iceland which had been seen by Gunnbjorn, he then found the islands, and on the way founded Greenland

• He then sailed around Greenland to the present day capital, Nuuk and settled there.

• When his three year exile was finished, he returned to Iceland, calling this new land, "Greenland" to attract potential settlers.