When we talk about the discovery of this great nation, we usually talk about Christopher Columbus, whose voyages sparked widespread awareness of the Americas in Europe (from which came sustained exploration, conquest, and colonization of the New World), and Leif Erikson, the Norse explorer known as the first European to land in continental North America.
A guy we donâ??t usually talk about is Bjarni Herjólfsson, who could have snatched Eriksonâ??s â??First!â? honor away, but chose to go hang out with his parents, instead.
One of the early Norse settlers of Iceland was Bárdi Herjólfsson. His son was Herjólfr Bárdarson, and his son was Bjarni Herjólfsson. According to the Saga of the Greenlanders, Bjarni was a seafarer from an early age, and became a merchant whose voyages brought him wealth and fame. He was also a devoted son, and when he wasn't sailing around the North Atlantic, he would spend his winter down time alternately in Norway and with his parents in Iceland.
One summer, when Bjarni was away on a trading voyage, Herjólfr decided, like his father before him, to settle new land. He and his wife, Thorgerdr, joined Erik the Red on a journey to Greenland and made a new home there.
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