The Norse mariner and adventurer Leif Ericson (971-ca. 1015) was the first Norseman to seek out the coast of North America. He introduced Christianity into Greenland.

Leif Ericson was born in Iceland, the son of Eric the Red. He moved with his parents to Greenland in 986. In that same year Bjarni Herjolfson, following his father to Greenland, missed that island and sailed in a southwesterly direction and sighted both the Labrador coast and Newfoundland.

Leif, 15 at the time, listened carefully to tales of Bjarni's adventures, probably from Bjarni himself, who was more interested in trade than in discovering new lands. On reaching his majority, and chafing under the patriarchal rule of his father, Leif determined to visit Bjarni's southernmost land. He undoubtedly was motivated by Bjarni's account of large timber stands sighted along the coast, for timber was scarce in Greenland. Bjarni not only furnished the idea for the...