Erik the Red

The Oxford Companion to Ships and the Sea | 2006 | 700+ words | Copyright

Erik the Red (fl. 985), Norse explorer, so called from the colour of his hair. He was forced to leave Norway, probably in the year 984, to escape trial for murder or manslaughter, and fled to Iceland. He was quickly in trouble again in Iceland and, hearing that another trader had sighted new land to the westward, decided to investigate. He verified its existence, gave it the name of Greenland, and returned to Iceland to persuade a group of people to join him in colonizing the new land which, at that time, was quite feasible because of climate change. He returned to Greenland in the summer of 985 with a band of colonists, rounded Cape Farewell, and landed in Eriksfjord (near the present Julianehaab) where he founded the settlement of Brattahlid. It was from Greenland that his son Leif Eriksson (fl. 11th century) discovered Vinland.

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