Lief erickson

Lief Erickson was an explorer from Iceland and was thought

to be one of the first Europeans to set foot on North American
soil. Leif Erickson’s father was Eric the Red, a well respected
sailor. Lief became a sailor in his early 20s like his father and
went on his first voyage at the age of 24. The voyage was to
Norway from his family’s homeland before the year 1000,
Greenland.
One tradition believes that while in Norway bringing gifts to
King Olaf 1 the king converted Lief to Christianity. Olaf later sent
Lief back to Greenland to convince the Vikings to convert to
Christianity, also.
On his travels back to Greenland Lief came upon a
wrecked trading vessel. He rescued the crew from the wreckage,
and for his deed he received the nickname, Lief the Lucky, and
the entire cargo. And when he finally reached Greenland he
carried out his mission to bring Christianity to the settlers there.

Lief Erickson day

Lief Erickson Day is a United States observance held on

October 9th. It honors Lief Erickson who led the first Europeans
who supposedly set foot on North American soil. In 1964,
congress authorized and requested the President at the time
Lyndon B. Johnson to create this holiday through an annual
proclamation. Each president since have done so. Some U.S.
states officially celebrate Lief Erickson Day particularly in the
upper mid-west, where large numbers of immigrants from the
Nordic countries. In 1930, Wisconsin became the first state to
officially adopt this holiday, a year later Minnesota followed this.
In 1963, the U.S. Representative from Duluth, John Blatnik,
introduced a bill to observe it nationwide.

Lief’s First Voyage

At the age of 24, Lief was asked to captain his first

voyage. The voyage was bringing gifts to King Olaf in Norway. Many
preparations were made and Lief was understandably excited. Lief
took along a crew of 14 and Thryker. It was five days before they
sighted Iceland due to wind, most voyages make it in two.