Leif Erikson Facts & Worksheets

Leif Erikson facts and information plus worksheet packs and fact file. Includes 5 activities aimed at students 11-14 years old (KS3) & 5 activities aimed at students 14-16 years old (GCSE). Great for home study or to use within the classroom environment.

Leif Erikson Worksheets

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Fact File

Leif Erikson Resource 1
Leif Erikson Resource 2

Student Activities

Leif Erikson Activity & Answer Guide 1
Leif Erikson Activity & Answer Guide 2
Leif Erikson Activity & Answer Guide 3
Leif Erikson Activity & Answer Guide 4
Table of Contents
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    Summary

    • Early Life
    • Hebrides and Norway
    • Journey to America
    • Legacy

    Key Facts And Information

    Let’s know more about Leif Erikson!

    Leif Erikson (also called Leif Eriksson, Old Norse Leifr Eiríksson), nicknamed ‘Leif the Lucky’, was a Norse Viking who is well remembered for arguably being the first European to set foot on the North American continent with his company around 1000 CE. Leif was the son of the famed Erik the Red, who established the first Viking settlement in Greenland in the late 980s CE. He was most likely born in Iceland between 970 and 980. Following his father’s death shortly after 1000 CE, Leif replaced him as chieftain of Greenland, and because his son Thorkel succeeded him by 1025 CE, it is reasonable to infer Leif died around then, though the exact year is unknown.

    Statue of Leif Erikson outside Hallgrimskirka in Reykjavik, Iceland
    Statue of Leif Erikson outside Hallgrimskirka in Reykjavik, Iceland

    EARLY LIFE OF LEIF ERIKSON

    • Leif Erikson was born in Iceland between 970 and 980 CE. He subsequently earned the nickname ‘Leif the Lucky’. He was the son of Erik Thorvaldson, famously known as ‘Erik the Red’, and Thorhild. In Viking culture, children are named after their fathers. When Erik the Red had a son named Leif, he became known as Leif Erikson. He had two brothers, Thorvald and Thorstein, and a sister, Freydis. 
    • Leif grew up without his father, who had been deported from Iceland after being convicted of murder. Erik spent three years away, discovering and exploring Greenland. When Erik returned to Iceland, he informed the locals about the strange country he had discovered. 
    • Erik relocated his family and several other immigrants to Greenland, where Leif grew up in Brattahlid. Erik was elected as the people’s leader in Greenland. Therefore, he didn’t have much time to devote to Leif. 
    • So Tyrker, one of Erik’s followers, taught and nurtured Leif. 
    • Thus, young Leif grew up in a pioneering environment, as Greenland was being discovered and settled around him. In this early colonisation of Greenland, the people around him would have come from Iceland. They were mostly chieftains and wealthy farmers who owned their ships, probably around 500 people; they established stock farms in the inner fjords where the land was relatively fertile. Leif travelled to Norway in 1000 CE and spent the winter in the home of Christian King Olaf Tryggvason.
    • Leif became a Christian in Norway. He eventually returned to Greenland and persuaded many people to Christianity as well. In Greenland, Erik the Red was told by a fellow Viking of a prosperous region to the west that he had seen while blown off course during his voyage to Greenland. Erik and Leif intended to explore this new land. However, Erik’s horse stumbled as they were about to leave. He viewed this as an omen to stay home, leaving Leif to lead the adventurous journey.

    HEBRIDES AND NORWAY

    • Leif’s explorations prior to his famous American adventure are recounted in a single source, the Saga of Erik the Red, whose correctness is difficult to verify. The legend describes how Leif, a promising young man, wishes to sail from Greenland to Norway one summer but gets blown off course to the Hebrides, where unfavourable sailing conditions keep him stranded for the entire summer. 
    • He makes use of an already established Norse stronghold on the islands. Fortunately for Leif, his voyage is anything but boring: he meets a lady of great birth named Thorgunna, with whom he falls in love to the point where she declares she is pregnant by the time Leif is ready to set sail again. 
    • Although Thorgunna intends to return home with Leif, her family’s permission has not been obtained, and according to the legend, Leif is reluctant to abduct a woman of such high birth from a faraway nation.
    • She is not pleased with this and informs Leif that she will send her child to him in Greenland as soon as he is of age to travel. Thorgunna later gives birth to a son, Thorgils, who finally travels to Greenland and is accepted as Leif’s son, according to the saga. Leif then returns to his original destination, Norway, where he pledges allegiance to Tryggvason, who is remembered for, among other things, his role in the introduction of Christianity among the Norse people. Erik’s Saga also carries out this idea, and it is the only source for this previously unknown attribution, stating that Tryggvason invites Leif Erikson to be his ambassador and convert Greenland to Christianity.
    • Leif agrees with Tryggvason’s offer. Historically, it is possible that the Norse Greenlanders were already Christian at their initial arrival. Iceland formally joined Christianity around 1000 CE, with Greenland following soon after; nonetheless, the religion had already begun to take root. Olaf Tryggvason’s part in its growth appears to be exaggerated. Although the sagas credit him with converting the people of Shetland and Orkney, the archaeological record shows that they had already adopted Christianity by the end of the 10th century CE. According to the Saga of Erik the Red, Leif’s father, Erik, refused to convert, but his mother converted. After her conversion, Thjodhild declined to sleep with Erik, much to his anger.

    JOURNEY TO AMERICA

    • According to the Saga of the Greenlanders, Leif was not the first European to find Vinland. Bjarni Herjólfsson and his crew, on a voyage from Iceland to Greenland, were overrun by wind and fog, missing Greenland’s southern tip and encountering an unfamiliar coast. They did not disembark, believing it to be somewhere other than Greenland, and instead proceeded to sail, discovering two further coasts that did not correspond to their concept of Greenland. After sailing back east, they arrived at their original destination and reported on their discoveries.

     

    Map showing the route (orange line) of Leif Erikson’s voyage
    Map showing the route (orange line) of Leif Erikson’s voyage
    • Approximately fifteen years later, Leif approached Herjólfsson, purchased his ship, assembled a crew of 35 men, and embarked on an expedition to the region Bjarni mentioned. 
    • His father Erik was supposed to join him, but he pulled out after falling off his horse on his way to the ship, which he took as a terrible omen. Leif reversed Herjólfsson’s course and arrived first in Helluland, a stony and dismal place he named.
    • After travelling farther by sea, he made a second landing in a forested area he dubbed Markland (Forest Land; possibly near Cape Porcupine, Labrador).
    • After two more days at sea, he landed on an island to the north (perhaps Belle Isle) before returning to the mainland, passing by a cape on the north side (probably Cape Bauld). They sailed west of this and arrived in a lush location with a moderate climate and plenty of fish. 
    • As winter came, he chose to camp there and dispatched expeditions to investigate the countryside. Tyrker observed that the terrain was covered in vines and grapes during one of these explorations. Leif thereby gave the land the name Vinland (Wineland). He and his company established a tiny village that later visitors from Greenland dubbed Leifsbudir (Leif’s Booths). In the Saga of Erik the Red, Leif’s base is Straumfjǫrðr (Fjord of Currents). Its odd name may be explained by the fact that this saga minimises Leif’s role in general, instead focusing on his sister-in-law Gudrid and her husband Karlsefni, who are described as heading a large expedition to Vinland. 
    • This could be the outcome of a push in the 13th century CE to canonise Bishop Björn Gilsson, their direct descendant. In 1961 CE, Leifsbudir became the biggest archaeological boost to Leif’s Vinland story. 
    • The remnants of a Norse colony were discovered in modern-day Canada at L’Anse aux Meadows, on the northernmost tip of Newfoundland’s Northern Peninsula.
    • Eight turf-walled structures, including what appear to be chieftains’ halls, other large halls, smaller halls and cottages, all with huge storage rooms and some with workshops built in, were discovered and date from 980–1020 CE. Therefore, they correspond to the sagas’ timeframes. A ringed pin of the Dublin Viking type was also discovered, which corresponds to information in the sagas regarding Viking explorers having familial links in Ireland (for example, Leif’s mother has Irish lineage). 
    • The town, which might have held 70–90 people, was built for labour crews who most likely used it as a staging point, overwintering there before embarking on trips to distant locations to gather timber, grapes, furs and other valuable commodities. These may then have been kept in L’Anse aux Meadows until they were transported back to Greenland. It was in operation for possibly less than a decade before the venture was deemed not worth the bother due to the excessively long journey from there to Greenland and competition from Indigenous peoples.
    A depiction of Leif Erikson discovering America
    A depiction of Leif Erikson discovering America
    • L’Anse aux Meadows was the Vikings’ main base in North America, as the Norse population in Greenland around 1000 CE was too small to support another large settlement in America. It corresponds to the Leifsbudir from the sagas. Leif is a plausible candidate for the historical leader of at least one of the journeys to Vinland, given that the buildings discovered at L’Anse aux Meadows show the presence of a powerful chieftain.
    • Leif fits this description: with his father Erik the Red as the top honcho of Norse Greenland around the time of the Vinland trips, Erik would likely have overseen or sanctioned these journeys, and Leif would have served as his deputy in carrying them out. 
    • It is not unreasonable to suppose that Leif’s Vinland exploits, as recounted in the sagas, are at least largely based on historical events.

    LEGACY OF LEIF ERIKSON

    • After his father died, Leif succeeded him as chief of Greenland, returning there to sort things out while passing the Vinland baton to his deputies, who were all family and extended kin, according to the sagas. They would have been compelled to bring Leif a portion of their wealth, adding to what was likely already a good living for him. According to the Saga of the Greenlanders, Leif’s brother Thorvald led an expedition to Vinland, using Leif’s ship and dwellings at Leifsbudir for the journey. He and his crew investigate the surrounding area, but they are used as pin cushions by native arrows and die far from home.
    • Another sibling, Thorstein, also travels to Vinland to reclaim his brother’s body. Leif also gives his sister-in-law Gudrid and her spouse Karlsefni permission to use his residences in Vinland. The same is true for Leif’s sister Freydis, who, in a peculiar scenario, spreads stories and causes her crew to fight amongst themselves, resulting in deaths, with Freydis killing off the remaining ladies with her own hands. 
    • The tale relates how the party returns to Greenland, where Leif discovers what transpired and condemns her, but takes no further action against her. Leif’s successful mission to Vinland inspired other Norsemen to follow suit, and the Norse became the first Europeans to settle the area.
    • It has been argued that knowledge of Vinland was preserved in European seaports in the 15th century, and that Christopher Columbus, who claimed in a letter to have visited Iceland in 1477, may have heard stories about it. 

    Frequently Asked Questions About Leif Erikson

    • Who Was Leif Erikson?

      Leif Erikson (also spelt Leif Eriksson or Leifr Eiríksson) was a Norse explorer from Iceland, widely regarded as the first European to set foot in North America, nearly 500 years before Christopher Columbus.

    • What is Leif Erikson famous for?

      He is famous for sailing from Greenland to a land he called Vinland, believed to be part of modern-day Newfoundland in Canada. This made him the first known European to explore mainland North America.

    • What is Vinland?

      Vinland means "land of wine" (or possibly "land of meadows"). It was named for the wild grapes or berries found there. Vinland is thought to be L’Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland, a Norse archaeological site.