Erik the Red: The Life and Legacy of the Viking Explorer Who Settled Greenland

Over the centuries, the West has become fascinated by the Vikings, one of the most mysterious and interesting European civilizations. In addition to being perceived as a remarkably unique culture among its European counterparts, what’s known and not known about the Vikings’ accomplishments has added an intriguing aura to the historical narrative. Were they fierce and fearsome warriors? Were they the first Europeans to visit North America? It seems some of the legends are true, and some are legend.
Either way, the Vikings’ reputation for ferocious seaborne attacks along the coasts of Northern Europe is no exaggeration, and the Norsemen were also medieval Europe’s greatest explorers, moving across the North Atlantic to settle in Iceland, Greenland, and even North America. The first step in this epic journey was Iceland, a rugged island in the North Atlantic about 400 miles from the Faroe Islands and about 700 miles from the north coast of Scotland. Iceland has been called “the land of ice and fire,” and the name is an apt one. Rugged fjords lead to towering glaciers. In spots, hot springs and geysers give a little warmth to green meadows and patches of bare, exposed bedrock. Active volcanoes loom over the landscape, sending plumes of smoke into the air and sometimes streams of lava far and wide. It’s a land guaranteed to capture the imagination of an adventurous and pagan people who saw spirits in every hill and stream.
The Viking settlements on Greenland also helped ensure that the explorer who first established a Viking presence there, Erik the Red, remains a household name over a millennium after his death. Erik the Red’s story comes from the two Vinland sagas, Icelandic texts written in the 13th century by two authors. They both include many of the same stories, albeit with varying degrees of detail, and in both sources, Erik the Red founded the “Eastern Settlement,” a colony just south of the Arctic Circle that lasted for nearly 500 years.