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Eric the Red is the famous voyager who explored Greenland and he was the native of Norway. Popularly known as Erik Thorvaldsen, Eirik Raude or Eirik Torvaldsson was born in 950 and he is commonly known as The Viking explorer of Greenland. Eric the Red is nicknamed thus mainly for his hair color and initially Eric was exiled for killing two men around 982. After that Eric the Red sailed for three years with 14 boats and approximately 350 colonizers and explored the southern part of Greenland. The colonies which were discovered opened the door to the Northern Europeans and they settled in the Greenland. Leif Eriksson, son of Erik the Red was the first European to sail to North America.
Eric the Red of Greenland was originally from Iceland but he murdered two men and was banished from Iceland and after sailing with his crew he discovered Greenland and he also founded Gunnbjorn's island and then landed on the coast of Greenland. He named this place as Midjokull and again sailed on the southern tip of Greenland then to the southwestern coast. After spending winter here Erik spend two subsequent winters at the southern tip of Greenland and explored the area.
Eric the Red named his new discovery as Greenland to make it sound better than Iceland and so that more people may come to settle in this new country. Eric from Iceland now became Greenland’s Eric the Red. Contrary to its name Greenland is a very cold region so lots of people came to settle in Greenland but later on they shifted to there native place as the winter were intolerable in Greenland. Some believe that majority of people died from epidemics or the Inuit people attacked the settlers.
Eric the Red had a daughter Freydis and three sons named as Leif Ericsson (the explorer), Thorvald and Thorsteinn. Eric the red died in between 1003-1104 but the legend of Erik the Red is still very much fresh in the memories of the people of Greenland.
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