Voyage to Vinland

Leif Erikson · 1000 CE – 1001 CE · Earth

Explore the lands reported west of Greenland.

Historical context

Norse Greenland was a remote colony on the edge of a vast, largely unknown west. Leif's landfall in North America preceded Columbus by nearly five centuries.

The voyage, step by step

1. Leaving Brattahlíð

   1000 CE

   Leif sails west from Greenland to the lands reported beyond the sea.

2. Helluland

   1000 CE

   The first landfall is a stony shore the sagas call Helluland.

3. Markland

   1001 CE

   A wooded coast, Markland, offers the timber Greenland lacks.

4. Vinland

   1001 CE

   Leif winters in Vinland, the first recorded European stay in North America.

Outcome

Reached Vinland and wintered in North America.

Leif Erikson

Norse explorer who, according to the Vinland sagas, made the first recorded European landfall in North America.

Read on Wikipedia

Sources

• Leif Erikson — Wikipedia
• Pathfinders: A Global History of ExplorationFelipe Fernández-Armesto · Oxford University Press · 2006

Continue exploring

• Settlement of GreenlandErik the Red · 985 CE – 986 CE
• Treasure fleet voyagesZheng He · 1405 CE – 1433 CE
• Voyage to the CapeBartolomeu Dias · 1487 CE – 1488 CE
• First Atlantic crossingChristopher Columbus · 1492 CE – 1493 CE