orig. Erik Thorvaldson
flourished 10th century, Norway
Founder of the first European settlement on Greenland ( 0441; 986) and father of Leif Eriksson .
A native of Norway, Erik grew up in Iceland; exiled for manslaughter 0441; 980, he set sail and landed on Greenland. With 350 colonists he founded a colony that numbered about 1,000 settlers by AD 1000. In 1002 the colony was ravaged by sickness, and it gradually died out, though other Norse settlements in Greenland continued. Erik's story is told in the Icelandic Eiríks saga.