Vinland:

c.1000 - 1013

Icelandic sagas of the 13th century give various versions of how Leif, a son of Eric the Red,
comes to spend a winter at a place west of Greenland which he names Vinland (the root vin in
old Norse could imply either that grape vines or flat grassland characterized the place). In some
accounts Leif loses his way when returning from Norway, in others he is following up reports
made fifteen years earlier by Bjarni Herjolfsson, another Viking blown off course.

Either way it seems likely that in about the year 1000 Leif Ericsson lands at three successive
spots in north America which he calls Helluland, Markland and Vinland. There is no way of
identifying them, but it is possible that they fall somewhere on the coasts of Baffin Island,
Labrador and Newfoundland, as Leif makes his way southward.

Leif returns in the following year to Greenland, but the sagas state that a few years later an
Icelandic expedition - led by Thorfinn Karlsefni - establishes a new settlement at Vinland. The
settlers survived only three winters before being discouraged by the hostility of the Native
Americans, called Skrelings, or "barbarians" in the saga.

Archeology proves that Vikings did indeed settle North America, albeit briefly. On a site in
Reims aux Meadows, Newfoundland, is a longhouse with a Viking-style saloon. Relics such as
soap spindles from Iceland have also been unearthed, suggesting that women were among the