Made popular by the best cartoon series ever, Spongebob Squarepants, October 9th is a call to celebrate a real Viking, that’s not from Minnesota, Lief Erikson.
Now after watching that episode of Spongebob for the 1,456th time, I felt it was time to finally look into who Mr. Erikson was and what brought him his legacy, and it turns out Leif Erikson was more than just a bit in a cartoon show.
For those who are unfamiliar with Leif Erikson, we shall go back a few years to the year of 970, when Erikson was born, in the country that a relative of his allegedly discovered, now known as Iceland.
As he got older, his father would be banished from a Iceland, where he left to travel to Greenland to establish its first official settlement. Years later, Erikson would also leave home to travel to Norway, where he, a Viking, would be converted to a Christian and would begin to spread Christianity throughout the country. Eventually, Erikson had enough of living up there, so he decided to leave home and venture the world in hopes of discovering new lands and new opportunities. Essentially he was Christopher Columbus, 500 years before Columbus.
It was unclear on what year Erikson left Norway to find the “New World”, but, when he finally did the new world he would discover would be present day east Canada. Here him and his crew would establish “Vinland”, for its viny environment that littered the ground with grapes that the crew would harvest to take back with them.
Though the year of his death was never known, the word about Erikson’s new discovery led to more Nordics to also come travel to “Vinland”, East Canada and also begin establishing permanent residence in the country. This new migration would eventually migrate down to parts of Northern America, as well.
All in all, Lief Erikson is more than just a meme, he was an explorer who helped bring the Nordic culture to North America. Happy Lief Erikson day! hinga dinga durgen!