LEIF ERIKSON: The Viking Who Found America 500 Years Before Columbus

He was the first European to set foot in North America — 500 years before Columbus ever set sail. Leif Erikson, son of Erik the Red, led a Norse expedition across the North Atlantic and reached the shores of a land the Vikings called Vinland — what we now know as Newfoundland, Canada. This is the story of the Viking explorer who reached the New World half a millennium before one of history's most celebrated "discoveries," and why his voyage was largely forgotten for centuries. Drawing on archaeological evidence from L'Anse aux Meadows and the Icelandic sagas, this video explores the route Erikson's expedition took, the short-lived Norse settlement in North America, the reasons it was ultimately abandoned, and how the credit for reaching the New World came to be attributed to Columbus instead. Subscribe for more untold stories from history's most fearsome warriors, explorers, and conquerors. #LeifErikson #VikingHistory #Vinland #History #Vikings