"Erik the Red-haired was a Norse Chieftan. He left (c.950) Norway with his exiled father and settled in Iceland. A serious quarrel erupted between Erik and his neighbours on Iceland. In the fight that followed, Erik was responsible for the death of two men. He was convicted of manslaughter, pronounced an outlaw, and exiled from Iceland for three years.
To stay meant possible death as, once convicted, anyone on Iceland was allowed to legally kill him. In 980-81, Eric therefore decided to explore land sighted by his friend Gunnbjörn Úlfsson to the west of Iceland. The course Eric followed took him to the island he named Greenland.
Eric and his Viking followers spent three years exploring the south and west coasts. On his return to Iceland he promoted a colonizing venture and is said to have given Greenland its attractive name to encourage settlers. He led (c.986) to the new land a group of 25 ships, of which 14 arrived, carrying about 500 people.
Eric established a farmstead, Brattahlid, near present Julianehaab and was a leader of a southern settlement at Osterbygd. He resisted in vain the introduction (c.1000) of Christianity by his son Leif Ericsson. Although the colony grew to approximately 1,000 settlers, it gradually died out; other Norse settlements in Greenland, however, survived.
