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#11- Leif Erikson

11 Leif Erikson



In 986, the Viking, Eirik Thorvaldsson, or Erik the Red, discovered and colinized Greenland. This Viking had a son named Leif Erikson(c. 960- c.1020). As a young man, Erikson went to Norway and worked for the king there. After coming back to Greenland, Erikson sailed West, probably in search of the land that the Viking, Bjarni Harjulfsson had passed by and described as hilly and heavily forrested. Harjulfsson never landed in America, saying that it was a useless land. Around the year 1000, Erikson made it to America, about 500 years before Colombus. He found three islands, naming the smaller two Heeluland and Markland. The third and largest island, he named Vineland because he thought that the berries that grew there were grapes. This island is probably Newfoundland. After a winter on Vineland, Erikson returned. Some Vikings came back to Vineland later on to form a settlement, but the hostility between the Vikings and the Native Americans led to the failure of the colony. Erikson earned his place in history for being the first European to set foot on in the New World.

Information from...
http://www.mnc.net/norway/LeifErikson.htm

#17-Willoughby and Chancellor

17 Hugh Willoughby and Richard Chancellor

Hugh Willoughby (c.1525-1554) and Richard Chancellor (c.1520-1556) were English explorers trying to find the Northeast passage. Although Willoughby had good commanding skills and was the appointed leader of the voyage, he left all the navigational work to Chancellor, for Willoughby had no previous nautical experience. On May 10, 1553, Willoughby and Chancellor left England with their three ships, the Bona Esparanza, the Edward Bonaventure, and the Bona Confidentia. When the ships got to the Lofotan Islands, a terrible storm hit, separating Chancellor (in the Edward Bonaventure) from Willoughby and the other two ships. Although Willoughby made it to Novaya Zemlya, he was forced to return to Scandinavia. His ships then got stuck in the ice at the mouth of the Arzina River near Murmansk. Although Willoughby and his crew made several attempts to find help, none were successful, and Russian fishermen found their bodies a year later. Chancellor, on the other hand, found luck. He was able to bring his ship to Kholmogory (Arkkanglash) on the Dvina River, and was even invited to Moscow by Ivan the Terrible. When he returned, Chancellor brought back furs and letters promising trade privileges. Later on, when Chancellor tried to return to Russia, he drown in a shipwreck off the Scottish coast. Willoughby and Chancellor are remembered for helping to bring Russian and British trade together. They also helped England remember that there were trade opportunities closer than the New World and Asia.

Information from...

www.win.tue.nl/~engels/discovery/wilchan.html