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Ericson's father Eric the Red was a native of Iceland. After the government exiled him for three years in 982, according to Minnesota State University, Eric sailed west to explore an island earlier Vikings had described. He returned to Iceland and encouraged the people to join him colonizing the place he named Greenland.
The university states that Viking stories credit Bjarni Herjolfsson as the first Viking to see North America, after a storm blew him away from Greenland.
The Encyclopedia of World Biography states that Ericson was frustrated living in Greenland under the thumb of his powerful father. Traveling to Norway, he heard Bjarni's stories of the new land to the west and decided to explore what would be known as "Vinland."
If Ericson said why he went west, the words are lost to history. According to the Encyclopedia, he may have gone because Bjarni described Vinland as thick with forests, and Greenland is notoriously lacking in wood for house or boat building.
Translating Ericson's voyage into modern geography is guesswork. Historians have placed Vinland anywhere from Canada to Virginia.
Encyclopedia of World Biography: Leif Ericson
Minnesota State University: Vikings in the New World
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