History of the United States

by John Clark Ridpath

The Norsemen in America.

THE western continent was first seen by white men in A. D. 986. A Norse navigator by the name of Herjulfson, sailing from Iceland to Greenland, was caught in a storm and driven westward to Newfoundland or Labrador. Two or three times the shores were seen, but no landing was attempted. The coast was so different from the well-known cliffs of Greenland as to make it certain that another shore, hitherto unknown, was in sight. On reaching Greenland, Herjulfson and his companions told wonderful stories of the new land seen in the west.

Leif, Son of Eric.

2. Fourteen years later, the actual discovery of America was made by Leif, a son of Eric. Resolving to know the truth about the country which Herjulfson had seen, he sailed westward from Greenland, and in the spring of the year 1001 reached Labrador. Landing with his companions, he made explorations for a considerable distance along the coast. The country was milder and more attractive than his own, and he was in no haste to return. Southward he went as far as Massachusetts, where the company remained for more than a year. Rhode Island was also visited; and it is alleged that the adventurers found their way into New York harbor.

3. In the years that followed Leif's discovery, other bands of Norsemen came to the shores of America. Thorwald, Leif's brother, made a voyage to Maine and Massachusetts in 1002, and is said to have died at Fall River in the latter State. Then another brother, Thorstein by name, arrived with a band of followers in 1005; and in the year 1007, Thorfinn Karlsefne, the most distinguished mariner of his day, came with a crew of a hundred and fifty men, and made explorations along the coast of Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and perhaps as far south as the capes of Virginia.

Norsemen in America.

Vinland.

4. Other companies of Icelanders and Norwegians visited the countries farther north, and planted colonies in Newfoundland and Nova Scotia. Little, however, was known or imagined by these rude sailors of the extent of the country which they had discovered. They supposed that it was only a portion of Western Greenland, which, bending to the north around an arm of the ocean, had reappeared in the west. Their settlements were feeble and were soon broken up. Commerce was an impossibility in a country where there were only a few wretched savages with no disposition to buy and nothing at all to sell. The spirit of adventure was soon appeased, and the restless Norsemen returned to their own country. To this undefined line of coast, now vaguely known to them, the Norse sailors gave the name of Vinland.