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Leif Erikson
Norse explorer
Also known as: Leif Ericson, Leif Eriksson, Leif the Lucky, Leifr Eiríksson
Leif Erikson (flourished 11th century) was a Norse explorer widely held to have been the first European to reach the shores of North America. The 13th- and 14th-century Icelandic accounts of his life show that he was a member of an early voyage to eastern North America, although he may not have been the first to sight its coast. The second of the three sons of Erik the Red, the first colonizer of Greenland, Leif sailed from Greenland to Norway shortly before 1000 to serve among the retainers at the court of Olaf I Tryggvason, who converted him to Christianity ...(100 of 344 words)