Erik the Red

Erik Thorvaldsson (c. 950 – c. 1003), known as Erik the Red, was a Norse explorer described in medieval and Icelandic sagas as the founder of the first settlement in Greenland. His nickname "the Red" was most likely due to his hair and beard colour. According to Icelandic sagas, he was born in the Jæren district in Rogaland, Norway, as the son of Thorvald Asvaldsson. One of Erik's sons was the famous Icelandic explorer Leif Erikson.

Personal Life

Early Life
Erik Thorvaldsson was born in 950 CE in Rogaland, Norway. He was the son of Thorvald Asvaldson (also called Osvaldson). As a method of conflict resolution, which later became a family tradition, Erik’s father, Thorvald Asvaldsson, was exiled from Norway for manslaughter. He sailed with his family, including the 10-year-old Erik, from Norway westward and settled in Hornstrandir in the northwest of Iceland, where he eventually died before the year 1000 CE.

Marriage and Family
Erik married Þjódhild Jorundsdottir and moved to Haukadalr (Hawksdale), where he built a farm called Eiríksstaðir. Þjódhild was the daughter of Jorundur Ulfsson and Þorbjorg Gilsdottir. Medieval Icelandic tradition reports that Erik the Red and his wife Þjódhild had four children: a daughter, Freydís, and three sons, the explorer Leif Erikson, Thorvald, and Thorstein. Unlike his son Leif and Leif's wife, who converted to Christianity, Erik remained a follower of Norse paganism. While his wife embraced Christianity enthusiastically and even commissioned the first church in Greenland, Erik refused to convert, maintaining his allegiance to the Norse gods, which, according to the sagas, led Þjódhild to deny him intimacy.

Exile

Following in his father’s footsteps, Erik too had to go into exile. The first conflict arose when his slaves triggered a landslide on the neighbouring farm of Valthjof. In retaliation, Valthjof's friend, Eyjolf the Lame, killed the slaves. In revenge, Erik killed Eyjolf and Holmgang-Hrafn. As Eyjolf’s relatives demanded his banishment from Haukadal, the Icelanders later sentenced Erik to three years of exile for killing Eyjolf the Lame around the year 982.

Erik then sailed to the island of Eyxney. He asked Thorgest to keep his Setstokkr — decorated beams of significant mystical value that his father had brought from Norway. When Erik finished building his new house, he returned to retrieve them, but they were "unavailable." He then went to Breidabolstad to collect them, which likely belonged to Thorgest's Setstokkr, though the sagas here are unclear. Thorgest pursued him, and in the ensuing battle, Erik killed both of Thorgest's sons and "several other men."

Each man then kept a significant number of followers. Styr supported Erik, as did Eyiolf of Sviney, Thorbjörn, Vifil's son, and the sons of Thorbrand of Alptafirth, while Thorgest was supported by the sons of Thord the Yeller, Thorgeir of Hitardal, Aslak of Langadal, and his son Illugi.

The dispute was resolved at a meeting, the Thing, where Erik was outlawed for three years.

Death

Erik’s son, Leif Erikson, was the first Viking to explore Vinland—a part of North America, likely near modern-day Newfoundland—and invited his father on the journey. Legend has it that Erik fell off his horse on the way to the ship, which he interpreted as an ill omen, and decided to let his son continue without him. Erik died in the winter after his son’s departure from an epidemic that claimed many of the settlers.

Discoveries

Although folklore often describes Erik as the first to discover Greenland, Icelandic sagas suggest that earlier Norsemen had already discovered Greenland and attempted to settle it before him. Gunnbjörn Ulfsson (also known as Gunnbjörn Ulf-Krakuson) is credited with the first sighting of the land. Nearly a century before Erik, strong winds had driven Gunnbjörn to the land, which he named Gunnbjörn’s Skerries. However, as Gunnbjörn's discovery was accidental, he was overlooked in the history of Greenland. After Gunnbjörn, Snæbjörn Galti also visited Greenland. Records from that time suggest that Galti led the first Norwegian attempt to colonize Greenland, which ended in disaster. Erik the Red, however, was the first permanent European settler.

Greenland

During his exile around 982, Erik sailed to a somewhat mysterious and little-known land that Snæbjörn Galti Hólmsteinsson had unsuccessfully attempted to settle four years earlier. He rounded the southern tip of the island, later known as Cape Farewell, and sailed up the west coast. Eventually, he reached a part of the coast that seemed mostly ice-free, offering conditions similar to Iceland, promising growth and future prosperity. According to the Saga of Erik the Red, Erik spent his three years in exile exploring this land. He spent the first winter on the island of Eiriksey, the second winter in Eiriksholmar (near Hvarfsgnipa), and explored the north as far as Snaefell and Hrafnsfjord in the last summer.

When Erik returned to Iceland after his exile, he reportedly brought back stories about "Greenland." He intentionally gave the land a more appealing name than "Iceland" to attract potential settlers, declaring, "People would be more inclined to go there if it had an inviting name." He knew that the success of a settlement in Greenland would require the support of as many people as possible. His marketing strategy proved successful, as many people—especially those "living on poor land in Iceland" and those who had suffered a "recent famine"—were convinced that Greenland offered great opportunities.

After spending the winter in Iceland, Erik returned to Greenland in 985 with a large group of settlers. Of the 25 ships that set out for Greenland, eleven were lost at sea; only fourteen arrived. The Icelanders founded two colonies on the southwest coast: the Eastern Settlement (Eystribyggð), near present-day Qaqortoq, and the Western Settlement, near present-day Nuuk. Over time, a middle settlement developed, though many believed it belonged to the Western Settlement. The Eastern and Western Settlements, both located on the southwest coast, turned out to be the only areas suitable for agriculture. In the summer, when the weather was favourable for travel, each settlement sent a group of men to hunt in Disko Bay above the Arctic Circle to gather food and other valuable goods, such as seals (for ropes), walrus ivory, and stranded whales.

Eastern Settlement

In the Eastern Settlement, Erik built the estate of Brattahlíð near present-day Narsarsuaq. He held the title of chief of Greenland and became both highly respected and wealthy.

The settlement thrived, growing to a population of 5,000, spread across a large area along Eriksfjord and neighbouring fjords. Immigrant groups fleeing overpopulation in Iceland joined the original group. However, a group of immigrants who arrived in 1002 brought with them an epidemic that devastated the colony, killing many of its leading citizens, including Erik himself. Despite this, the colony recovered and survived until the Little Ice Age made the land inhospitable to European lifestyles in the 15th century, just before Christopher Columbus' first voyage to America in 1492. Pirate raids, conflicts with the Inuit, who encroached on the Nordic territories, and the abandonment of the colony by Norway were additional factors in its decline.

Comparisons with the Greenland Saga

There are numerous parallels between The Saga of Erik the Red and The Greenland Saga, including recurring characters and narratives about the same expeditions, though with some notable differences. In The Saga of Erik the Red, some of the expeditions in The Greenland Saga are portrayed as a single expedition led by Thorfinn Karlsefni, although Erik’s son Thorvald, his daughter Freydís, and Karlsefni’s wife Gudrid play key roles in the retelling. Another notable difference is the location of their settlements. In the Grœnlendinga Saga, Karlsefni and the others settle in a place referred to simply as Vinland, while in The Saga of Erik the Red, they establish two base settlements: Straumfjǫrðr, where they spent the winter and the following spring, and Hop, where they later settled but encountered problems with the native people, whom they called Skrælings, as described in the Greenland Saga. Otherwise, the two narratives largely align, with both focusing on the feats of Thorfinn Karlsefni and his wife Gudrid.