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Leif Erikson
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Painting by Christian Krohg showing Leif Eriksson in a yellow tunic standing on a Viking ship, pointing toward land as his crew looks ahead over rough seas. Map showing Viking travels, trading, and raiding routes from the 9th to 11th centuries across Europe, the North Atlantic, and into North America. Viking homelands in Scandinavia are shaded, with routes extending to Iceland, Greenland, the British Isles, France, Eastern Europe, and L'Anse aux Meadows in present-day Canada. Key settlements and areas of initial Viking presence are marked. An inset map in the lower left shows the 1000-year anniversary reenactment route of Leif Eriksson's voyage from
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Vikings. Viking warriors hold swords and shields. 9th c. AD seafaring warriors raided the coasts of Europe, burning, plundering and killing. Marauders or pirates came from Scandinavia, now Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. European History
European History
Buzz Aldrin. Apollo 11. Apollo 11 astronaut Edwin Aldrin, photographed July 20, 1969, during the first manned mission to the Moon's surface. Reflected in Aldrin's faceplate is the Lunar Module and astronaut Neil Armstrong, who took the picture.
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Painting by Christian Krohg showing Leif Eriksson in a yellow tunic standing on a Viking ship, pointing toward land as his crew looks ahead over rough seas.
Leif Eriksson Discovers America Leif Eriksson Discovers America, oil on canvas by Christian Krohg, 1892.

Leif Erikson

Norse explorer
Also known as: Leif Ericson, Leif Eriksson, Leif the Lucky, Leifr Eiríksson(Show More)
Written by
Birgitta Wallace
Research Archaeologist Emerita, Parks Canada Agency, Atlantic Service Centre. Author of Westward Vikings: The Saga of L’Anse aux Meadows.
Birgitta Wallace
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Britannica Editors
Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree....
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•History

Leif Erikson (flourished 11th century) was a Norse explorer widely held to have been the first European to reach the shores of North America. The 13th- and 14th-century Icelandic accounts of his life show that he was a member of an early voyage to eastern North America, although he may not have been the first to sight its coast. The second of the three sons of Erik the Red, the first colonizer of Greenland, Leif...

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