Vikings

Ingólfr Arnarson, a Norwegian Norseman was the first man to permanently settle Iceland in 874 AD.
(He is known as Ingólfur Arnarson in Modern Icelandic and Ingolf Arnarson in Norwegian)

The Vikings had settled Norway in the 9th Century CE. Norway along with Sweden and Denmark is also the area from where the Vikings came from.

One example... Copmanthorpe - a town to the south-west of the city of York.

It is hard to be certain. Early raids were in the late 8th century, but settlements being established was much later in the 9th century.

Vikings explored the shores of North America during so called Viking Age, the period from their earliest recorded raids in the 790s until the conquest of England in 1066.

The Swedes were Vikings, along with the Danes and Norwegians. The Vikings, having over-looted the places nearest to them - France, England etc, went further afield as traders and conquerors, getting as far as Baghdad in the east, and North East Canada and America in the west. They made two failed attempts at capturing Constantinople, and successfully established the Kingdom of Sicily and Naples. They penetrated Russia - the first Prince of Kiev, forefather of the Czars, was Rurik (Hroerekr). Having taken everything in northern France, they had perforce to settle down and produce something and became the Normans (Norsemen). William the Conquerer's Norse forbears had occupied the area a mere hundred years before he crossed the Channel to grab England.

Erik the Red had no daughters but three sons

proper

The man that taught Leif Eriksson was Thyrker

Leif Ericson, as his father he is called a famous explorer for what his father had found 'Greenland' which makes him the famous son.

Tall red and white sail and a small ship and about 20 people in each ship.

Erik the red

For the same reason they went to Britian, Scotland, Ireland, Faroe Islands, Iceland, Greenland, Baffin Island, and America, for fame and fortune. They were also looking for new places to settle and new peoples to trade with.

Leif was from Greenland, and he lived on the farm as a kid.

Two brothers and one half sister.

Lots of things happened to Leif when he was exploring! His ship was not as maneuverable as the ships of today, plus, he did not have charts for most of the areas he was exploring, so he did run aground every now and then. He also had to rest at anchor to ride out lots of storms and bad weather. Oh yeah- he created a settlement in North America about 500 years before that dude named Chris Somebody-Or-Other (Christopher Columbus). Other (less-experienced) sailors were not always so fortunate. After finding and rescuing 14 people stranded near Greenland, he began to be called Leif the Lucky.

The names were Thorwald and Thorsten.

The year 2000 was named the Year of the Viking, because it marked the millennium of Leif Erikson's arrival in North America.

In 985, a Viking named Bjarni Herjolfson, on the way from Iceland to Greenland, was driven off course by storms and fog. Eventually he sighted wooded land. It didn't look like the description of Greenland he had been given, so he sailed north until he found the Viking settlement on Greenland. Fifteen years later Leif Eriksson set out with 34 men to find the land Bjarni had described.

After passing areas they named Helluland, (Flat-Stone Land) and Markland (Woodland), they found a river outlet. They followed the river to a lake, carried their skin sleeping-bags off the boat and built huts. Later they decided to build a big house and stay for the winter. They found lots of salmon, and the climate was milder than on Greenland. The next summer they sailed back to Greenland. The hostility of the Native Americans, whom they named skraelings, discouraged permanent settling, but they returned repeatedly to explore further along the North American coast and gather furs, timber and iron.

Two Icelandic sagas, The Greenlander's Saga and Eirik' s Saga, tell of Leif's discovery of a new land southwest of Greenland. Some scholars believe that Columbus learned about America through the Icelandic sagas in 1477 when he traveled to Iceland.

In 1961, Norwegian archaeologists Helge Ingstad and his wife Anne Stine discovered remains of a Viking settlement on Newfoundland, near the village L'Anse aux Meadows. Ingstad and his crew spent six years exploring the site. One house had a fireplace of the same design as that on Leif Eriksson's farm on Greenland. Many other buildings and numerous artifacts were uncovered. The site was large enough to house about 90 people.

There is now a National Historic site with reconstructed buildings at L'Anse aux Meadows. The remains of the original buildings have been left as they were discovered by the Ingstads. Adjacent to the site are reconstructions of the buildings, a museum and an interpretative center.

at age 24' leif was asked to captian his first voyage

Leif Ericsson discovered America 500 years before Columbus 'discovered' America.

He landed on what is now known as Newfoundland in Canada.

He wanted to find gold and he wanted to find food and spices but mainly to stop HUMAN sacrifice, he had only 500 men on the voyage as well as a few horses, one or two canons and some guns. Indians accompanied Cortes as well. He wanted to also conquer the Aztec Empire. Which he did after he left Diego Velasquez.

Lief Erikson was born to Erik the Red and Thjodhild around 970 CE, in Iceland.
Leif Ericson had two brothers, Thorvald and Thorsteinn, and one sister, Freydís. He married a woman named Thorgunna, and they had one son, Thorkell Leifsson
He discovered North America around the year 1000 CE.

More information can be found here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leif_Ericson

Leif Erickson, who was born around 970 AD, did in fact have a family, or I would not be here today! Anyone can read upon his history, and clearly see that he had a wife, who was some princess who he married, and had a son with during his expedition. Erickson had 3 siblings, so there is definitely an existing family tree.

I was recently discussing my family generation with my nanny, and our family is of Norwegian Heritage. I am unsure exactly how we are related so I have been doing some personal research. Also the roots of Erickson, is some how connected further down the path with the founders of the Mayo Clinic in the United States, which was established roughly around 1880.