Changes

Not long after the Greenland settlements were established in 985, a Viking mariner named Bjarni Herjolfsson was blown off course during a voyage from Iceland to Greenland and became the first of his people to sight North America. The tale of new lands to the west intrigued the inquisitive Vikings, who set to work to conduct a full-fledged expedition to the mysterious lands. Around the year 1000, Leif Eriksson, the son of Erik the Red, led the first recorded expedition to North America. The two Norse sagas divide North America by topography: Helluland (Rock Land) coincides with Labrador or Baffin Island; Markland (Wood Land) coincides with Newfoundland; while Vinland (Wine Land) remains enigmatic and a source of dispute among modern scholars. Both of the Vinland Sagas describe Vinland, but the Greenland Saga gives a more detailed description of its discovery. The passage describes how Leif and the other Vikings found their comrade, Tyrkir the German, who had wandered away from their camp by accident.

“‘I did not go much farther than you,’ he said. ‘I have some news. I found vines and grapes.

‘Is that true, foster-father?’ asked Leif. ‘Of course, it is true,’ he replied. ‘Where I was born there were plenty of vines and grapes.’ They slept for the rest of the night, and next morning Leif said to his men, ‘Now we have two tasks on our hands. On alternate days we must gather grapes and cut vines, and then fell trees, to make a cargo for my ship.’ This was done. The tow-boat was filled with grapes. They took on a full cargo of timber; and in the spring they made ready to leave and sailed away. Leif named the country after its natural qualities and called it Vinland.” <ref> Magnusson, Magnus and Hermann Pálsson, trans. and eds. <i> The Vinland Sagas: The Norse Discovery of America.</i> (London: Penguin, 1965), Graendlendinga Saga, 4 </ref>