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Essay On Leif Eriksson

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Prather 1 Abigail Prather Mr. Sheumaker US History 13 October 2017 Leif Eriksson: First to Discover America To this day all of America celebrates Columbus Day in honor of him discovering North America. But what if a mistake was made in acknowledging Columbus as the founder? What if somebody else found it first? Years later we’ve traced back 500 years before Columbus was even born and found that he was not the first person to discover America..a Viking named Leif Eriksson was. (Erikssons story was sadly duped with some made up story so no one knows for sure which story to believe.) Leif Eriksson was believed to have been born in Iceland around 979 B.C., he spent his formative years in desolate Greenland, he was a Northman and a Viking. …show more content…

1000 when he was blown off course, and instead found a rocky land barren land in which is now known as present-day Canada, then found with grapevines and named it Vinland. Eriksson gave the land a name Helluland which is Norwegian for “Stone Slab Land.” Researchers believe that this location could possibly have been Baffin Island. Eriksson then voyaged south to a location they called Markland (Forestland), which was most likely present-day Labrador, before they finally set up a base camp most likely on the northern tip of the island of Newfoundland. They made their way back soon after and brought back much needed timber, and grapes. Other Vikings continued to sail west to Vinland for at least the ensuing decade. In spite of North America’s bountiful resources, the Viking settlers stayed in desolate Greenland. This was most likely due to the violent happenings—including the slaying of Eriksson’s brother Thorwald–they encountered with the indigenous population of North America. While Columbus is celebrated and honored with his own day and everyone gets a day off. Some of us out there still recognize Leif Eriksson as being the rightful founder of our land and celebrate him instead because...he is the rightful founder. 500 years apart makes a world of a difference and that world is the one we live in specifically North

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