Leif Erikson Monument

Leif Erikson (surname also spelled Eriksson, Ericson, Eiriksson) was the second of three sons of Erik Thorvaldsson, also known as Erik the Red, a Norse explorer who established the first European settlement in Greenland. While the date of Erikson’s birth is uncertain, most scholars agree that he was raised in Greenland. Just before the year 1000, Erikson sailed from Greenland to Norway to serve at the court of Olaf I Tryggvason. While in Norway, the king converted him to Christianity and ordered him to return to Greenland to spread the faith among its settlers. 

The details concerning what happened to Erikson after departing Norway are still debated by historians today. According to the Eiríks saga rauða, he was blown off course while returning to Greenland in about 1000 and landed in North America. Erikson named the area Vinland because of its abundance of grapes and all-around fertility. After spending some time there, he sailed back to Greenland and converted his mother, Thjodhild, to Christianity. She then built the first church in Greenland at the estate of Erik the Red, Brattahild. On the other hand, according to the Grænlendinga saga, Erikson learned of the new lands to the west from Icelandic trader Bjarni Herjólfsson, who claimed to have sighted it from his ship after a storm drove him off course while sailing to Greenland fifteen years earlier. Enticed by Herjólfsson’s story, he organized an expedition shortly after 1000. 

Likewise, the precise location of Vinland is still in dispute. In 1960, Norwegian explorer Helge Ingstad and his wife, archaeologist Anne Ingstad, discovered the remains of an eleventh-century Norse outpost at L’Anse aux Meadows on the northernmost tip of Newfoundland in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. The initial find led to several years of archaeological excavations, which unearthed the remnants of eight structures, three dwellings, four workshops, and a forge. In 1968, the Canadian government designated L’Anse aux Meadows a National Historic Site of Canada. A decade later, UNESCO named it a World Heritage Site. Today, L’Anse aux Meadows remains the only confirmed Norse settlement in North America, outside of Greenland. Some scholars, however, believe that Vinland is actually much further south, possibly along the northeastern coast of what is now the United States. 

About nine centuries after Erikson landed in North America, Chicagoans of Norwegian descent endeavored to erect a monument in honor of the famous Norse explorer. To this end, they raised funds and commissioned Norwegian-American sculptor Sigvald Asbjørnsen to design it. Unveiled in Chicago’s Humboldt Park on October 12, 1901 during an elaborate two-hour-long ceremony attended by tens of thousands, the monument consists of a bronze sculpture of Erikson on a large granite boulder that functions as a pedestal. The statue depicts the Norse explorer in period attire standing proudly upright, his right leg slightly ahead of his left. He holds a shield with his left arm, while his right hand rests on his belt. Several decades later, on Leif Erikson Day (October 9) in 1950, the monument was moved about 250 feet from its original location to face Humboldt Drive to make it more accessible to the public.

History.com Editors. "Leif Erikson." History. A&E Television Networks. 10 October 2019. Web. 18 March 2021 <https://www.history.com/topics/exploration/leif-eriksson>.

"Leif Erikson Monument." Chicago Park District. City of Chicago. Web. 18 March 2021 <https://www.chicagoparkdistrict.com/parks-facilities/leif-erikson-monument>.

Wallace, Birgitta. "Leif Erikson." Encyclopædia Britannica. Web. 18 March 2021 <https://www.britannica.com/biography/Leif-Erikson>.