2019-01-01 Tue

Leif Erikson was a Norse explorer from Iceland. He is also known as the first European to have set foot on continental North America before Christopher Columbus.

Leif Erikson was the son of Erik the Red and Thjodhild. His father Erik the Red was the founder of first European settlement on what is now Greenland.

Leif Erikson is said to have visited in Norway in around 1000 C.E; where he got converted to Christianity by Olaf I, who sent him back to Greenland to convert the settlers there. Later Ericson established got settled in a place known as ‘Vinland’ (today it is a part of Canada). The community lasted less than two years due to hostility between the settlers and native peoples, as well as internal struggles.

The United States of America had issued his commemorative coin in the year 2000.

Image Courtesy: usmint.gov