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"The
little-known secrets behind the men & women who shaped
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Find out who really discovered North America
By Paul Niemann
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[August 23, 2007]
After 4 1/2 years of writing exclusively about
inventors under the title of Invention Mysteries, we're now into our
second month of expanding this column to include other men and women
who shaped America. Subjects include explorers, discoverers,
politicians, actors, athletes and even the occasional outlaw. Under
the new title of Red, White & True Mysteries, any well-known U.S.
citizen or immigrant is fair game for this column.
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Today's story is about a
European explorer named Liev. His father was Erik Thorvaldsson, an
explorer who was expelled from Iceland for murders that he had
committed. Prior to that, Erik's father Thorvald was also expelled
from his home country of Norway for a murder that he had
committed. Losers.
It was common in Scandinavian countries during this era for a son
to take the first name of his father, and add the word "son" to it
to form his last name.
Known for his red hair, Erik, in what may be the greatest example
of branding success of all time, discovered a land to the west of
Iceland that was more than 85 percent covered in ice. He named it
Greenland; his logic was that if people thought the land was green
and beautiful, then they would want to come.
It worked!
Meanwhile, Liev met King Olaf on a trip to Norway. King Olaf knew
Liev's father well and took a liking to the son. King Olaf converted
Liev to Christianity, while Erik remained a pagan all his life. It
was the son, Liev, who spread Christianity to Greenland after the
father, Erik, had colonized the new territory.
Liev had also heard of a land farther west than Greenland. He
bought a boat from his friend Bjarni Herjulfsson and sailed with his
crew to the west, where they soon landed on an area that seemed like
one huge slab of rock. This area is believed to be Baffin Island,
near the coast of Canada. He and his crew then landed on the eastern
coast of Canada in what is believed to be Labrador.
There are conflicting stories as to why Liev went so far west; it
was either his intention to do so, or his ship got blown 500 miles
off course. Either way, they settled on what is present-day
Newfoundland, where they found grapes and called it Vinland.
Contrary to popular belief, though, Vinland meant "pasture" or
"meadow" -- not "vines."
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 There's one other thing that you might find interesting about
Liev: He was actually the first European explorer to discover
America.
He came to North America nearly 500 years before
Christopher Columbus, in the year 1001 A.D. The spelling of his name
changed from Liev to Leif, as in Leif Eriksson.
Then why is so little known about Leif's discovery of North
America?
Leif's sister, brother-in-law and a small group of settlers were
the only ones to return to Vinland. The settlers were killed by
Indians, and the only references to the New World were those that
were recorded in Norse history. Leif's nephew was the first European
born in North America.
Then who was Leif's father, the redhead? Erik Thorvaldsson never
used his last name on official business. Instead, he was known by
his nickname, Erik the Red.
In 1964 Congress established Oct. 9 as "Leif Ericson Day" in
America, to honor him as the first European to land on American
soil.
But wait -- there's more to this story!
Even though Leif was the first European to land on American soil,
he wasn't the first person to see it. Remember when I said that Leif
bought a boat from his friend Bjarni Herjulfsson?
Well, Bjarni sailed to Canada in 986 -- 15 years before Leif did
-- but he never landed, because the rocky land didn't appear to be
of any value to him! As a result, Leif Eriksson became the first
European to set foot in North America.
[Text from file received
from Paul Niemann]
Paul Niemann may be reached at
niemann7@aol.com.
Copyright Paul Niemann 2007
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