Sairushi

Modern World History H

Due: September 24, 2007

Leif Eriksson and His Parallels With Christopher Columbus

Leif Eriksson was the one of the sons of the famous Viking Erik Thorvaldson more
commonly known as Erik the Red. He had two brothers Thorvald and Thorstein and one
half-sister named Freydis. In 986 he moved with his family to Greenland. However,
one Icelandic ship following Erik led by Bjarni Herjulsson missed Greenland and
saw the coasts of Labrador and Newfoundland, but they did not land and instead
sailed back northeast to find Greenland and the colony. The colony established by
his father had scarce resources so the colonists had to rely on trade with
Scandinavian merchants supply themselves, so in 999 Leif sailed to Norway to meet
with King Olaf Tryggvason in order to request him to trade more with Greenland.
However, during the trip he was blown off course and has to stay in the Hebrides
for the summer. During his stay he fell in love with a woman called Thorgunna, who
would later bear him a child. In the autumn of that year he arrived at Norway and
converted to Christianity. The King compelled him to convert others at his home
so Leif returned to Greenland in 1000 to proselytize to his people. Except for his
father’s stubbornness, most of the settlers accepted Leif’s methods and twelve
churches were formed in the settlement. In 1002 after Leif returned, he went on
another expedition after listening to Bjarni recount his voyage and his sighting
of land. The colonists lacked wood and Bjarni told of expansive forests. So Leif,
with Bjarni’s ship, set out both to explore and to bring back the highly sought
after timber. The first place he spotted he did not land because it was a glacial
wasteland, which he named Helluland, or “slab land” also “The Land of the Flat
Stone.” Later He came across a forested area he called Markland, “woodland.” His
next stop was an unnamed island thought to be Belle Island. Finally he reached the
bountiful Vinland, “wine land” because of the multitude of wild grapes. They set
up a group of domiciles in “Leif’s Booths” or Leifrsbudir. They then went home and
Leif, with his phenomenal vision, was the only man on his crew to first spot a
crew of shipwrecked Norsemen. He agreed to bring them on board so long as he could
take full ownership of their cargo. The timber coupled with the newly acquired
cargo made Leif a rich man and earned him the soubriquet “Leif the Lucky.” Despite
groups of explorers setting out to his discovered lands, Leif remained in
Greenland and inherit his father’s position and wealth after he died.

Leif and Christopher Columbus are similar in many ways, first and most obviously
is that they are both accredited with discovering America. Another similarity is
that they both went to America to gain a valuable resource, Columbus for spices
and gold, and Leif for timber. However, Columbus did not discover much of what he
was looking for while Leif succeed and came back with two big bonuses, grapes, and
the cargo from the a shipwreck. Another of the men’s similarities was that of
their religion. They were both Christians, Leif converted after a visit to Norway
and Columbus from birth. They also proselytized Christianity and converted many to
Christianity, Leif the people in his settlement, and Columbus or his successors
and followers converting Native Americans. Also both men were stricken by a storm
and forced to land on an Island for a period of time, Leif on the Hebrides at
during his trip to Norway and Columbus in Jamaica during his fourth voyage.
Interestingly enough both, had two brothers and both got into trouble because of
their family. Leif was put into a bind when his half-sister Freydis betrayed two
of her business partners on a voyage to the Leif’s Islands by having her crew kill
both of her partners and their followers. The legend goes that when her crew
refused to kill the woman in the group, she killed them herself. Leif could not
pass judgment on her, however, because she was his sister. Columbus was arrested
because of accusations against him and his two brothers, Bartholomé and Diego and
was imprisoned without being allowed a proper defense. Columbus denied all charges
adamantly and King Ferdinand released him and his brothers six weeks later.
Ultimately even though the men were separated by hundreds of years, explored
different parts of North America, and thought of North America differently, they
actually draw many parallels when compared.