or Leif Eriksson the Lucky Norwegian Leiv Eriksson den Hepne
flourished 11th century
Icelandic explorer, possibly the first European to reach North America.
The second son of Erik the Red , he was on his way back from Norway to Greenland, where he had been sent by Olaf I Tryggvason to Christianize the natives ( 0441; 1000), when he sailed off course and landed probably at Nova Scotia, which he called Vinland . This standard account comes from the Icelandic Eiríks saga . Another account, the Groenlendinga saga , says he learned of Vinland from a man who had been there 14 years earlier and that Leif reached North America after 1000.