Leif Erikson Research Paper

Leif Eriksson was an Icelandic viking with two brothers and a sister. His father, Erik the Red, had been exiled soon after Leif was born. Erik had taken his wife and kids, along with minimal supplies, and sailed to the west, since he had previously been exiled from Norway as well. He landed in what he named Greenland, to make it sound nice so people would settle there. Leif’s sister’s name was Freydis, and his brothers were Thorvald and Thorstein. A German man named Thyrker had been captured by Erik the Red, but not enslaved. He now worked for Erik, and was a sort of a babysitter for Leif. He taught Leif how to speak in Celtic and Russian, and also taught Leif pretty much everything else he needed to know. At the age of 24, Leif captained his first voyage, which had been sent out by …show more content…
He is not guilty of this for many reasons. First of all, he never even was the leader of the vikings, and therefore was NOT responsible for any of the actions or crimes they commited. Leif Eriksson, as stated before, was sent on a mission by King Olaf I to spread Christianity. He later went on a voyage to find lands that had been talked about by a man named Bjarni, who had been lost at sea on his voyage to find this land. He took a crew of 14 men, including Thyrker. Leif landed in Canada, where he and his crew settled down. Leif sent out an exploration group to explore the land, but Thyrker did not return with the rest of the group. They looked for him all day, and found him the next morning. He was blabbering in German, and after he calmed down he explained that he had found grapes on this land. Leif named the land Vinland. They settled for one winter, but they were surprised that the days and nights were more even, and that the weather never really got as cold. After that winter, the Natives of the land got angry, and attacked Leif and his crew. They were forced to flee, and they then returned to