Erik the Red

Erik the Red Synopsis

Erik Thorvaldsson (c.?950 - c.?1003), known as Erik the Red, was a Norse explorer described in medieval and Icelandic sage sources as having founded the first European settlement in Greenland. Erik most likely earned the epithet 'The Red' due to the colour of his hair and beard. According to the Icelandic Sagas, Erik was born in the Jaeren district of Rogaland in Norway, the son of Thorvald Asyadsson.

Thorvald would later be banished from Norway and would sail west to Iceland with Erik and his family. During Erik's life in Iceland, he married Þjódhild Jorundsdottir and would have four children, with one of Erik's sons being the well-known Icelandic explorer Leif Erikson who discovered Vinland (North America). Around the year of 982, Erik was exiled from Iceland for three years, during which time he explored Greenland, eventually culminating in his founding of the first successful European settlement on the island.

Erik would later die there around 1003 CE during a winter epidemic