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May 1, 1000
Eriksson sailed east to his ancestral homeland of Norway
There, King Olaf I Tryggvason converted him to Christianity. He converted his mother, who built Greenland’s first Christian church, but not his outlaw father. -
Jul 1, 1000
1st voyage to Canada
Eriksson crossed the Atlantic by accident after sailing off course on his return voyage from Norway after his conversion to Christianity. After crossing the Atlantic, the Vikings encountered a rocky, barren land in present-day Canada. The Norsemen then voyaged south to a timber-rich location they called Markland (Forestland), most likely in present-day Labrador, before finally setting up a base camp likely on the northern tip of the island of Newfoundland. -
May 21, 1008
Back to Greenland
After spending the winter in Vinland, Eriksson and his crew sailed home to windswept Greenland with badly needed timber and plentiful portions of grapes. Eriksson, who would succeed Erik the Red as chief of the Greenland settlement after his father’s death, never returned to North America, but other Vikings continued to sail west to Vinland for at least the ensuing decade. -
Leif Eriksson Day
in 1964, President Lyndon Johnson signed a proclamation that declared October 9 to be Leif Eriksson Day in honor of the Viking explorer, his crew and the country’s Nordic-American heritage. -
Erik the Red was expelled from Iceland
He was Leif's father and he founded the first European settlement of Greenland after being expelled from Iceland for killing a neighbor. -
Leif Eriksson was born
Leif Eriksson was born in Iceland
