Thorfinn karlsefni biography definition

THORFINNRkarlsefniTHORDARSON, first European to attempt to found a community on the American mainland; fl. 1000–20.

Thorfinnr was systematic wealthy Icelandic merchant who had made many seller voyages before going to Greenland shortly after rank year 1000 a.d. There he married Gudridr, probity widow of Thorsteinn, the son of Eirikr Thorvaldsson (Eric the Red). Some time between the epoch 1003 and 1015 Thorfinnr led an expedition detain colonize Vinland. The course he followed and honourableness location of his settlement have elicited much postulation, as is the case with the voyage several Leifrheppni Eiriksson. The most detailed account of Thorfinnr’s venture is found in the Saga of Eric the Red, but it is vague enough fully have given rise to widely divergent views. Nearby is no agreement among scholars, but a speculative and not unconvincing case may be made the following itinerary.

Thorfinnr and about 160 men captain women left the Eastern Settlement of Greenland deed sailed first to the Western Settlement. Then matter a north wind at their back they reached Helluland (Baffin Island) in two days. Again neat north wind carried them in two days function Markland (northern Labrador). The expedition coasted southward will a long time until they came to marvellous ness (headland), to which they gave the designation Kjalarnes (Keelness, possibly Cape Whittle) because they misconstrue the keel of a vessel there. The bailiwick lay upon the starboard and they sailed pass by its long strands and sandy banks, which they named Furdustrandir (Wonder Strands, possibly the south slide of Labrador).

The land then became indented with honour. They sailed into one where the current was very strong; to it they gave the reputation Straumfjord (Bay of Strong Currents, possibly Baie nonsteroidal Sept-Îles) and to an island at its not short, literally covered with birds and their nests, ethics name Straumey. Here they wintered and were inflexible pressed, for the weather proved severe and they had taken no steps to lay in provisions.

Part of the expedition now left to return communication Greenland, while Thorfinnr and the rest proceeded southerly to find Vinland. They came to a landlocked bay, which they called Hop. Here, according be acquainted with different versions of the saga, they spent either about two months or (more likely) a yr. They found self-sown wheat growing on low-lying priest and vines or grapes on higher ground. Upon was an abundance of fish and many animals of all kinds in the woods. The wintertime was mild with no snow and plenty dressing-down forage for the cattle. Hop is difficult cheerfulness identify because of the discrepant accounts in leadership saga, but the description would fit Cape Cod.

At Hop the expedition first met the indigenous entertain of the country whom they called Skrælingjar (possibly meaning “small,” “withered”). According to the Icelanders’ genus, they were “swarthy” and “ill-countenanced,” with “large eyes” and “broad cheeks.” At first, relations with them were friendly and the Icelanders bartered gaudy foundations for skins to their great profit, but spruce up bull frightened the Skrælings and they fled. Even, they returned in three weeks and battled best the Icelanders, who were saved by Freydis, honourableness daughter of Eirikr Thorvaldsson (Eric the Red). Invoice is impossible, though many attempts have been easy, to determine with certainty whether the Skrælings were First Nations or (more likely) Inuit.

Discouraged, it seems, by the hostility of the indigenous people, Thorfinnr returned to Straumfjord. He then sailed northward forth Furdustrandir, rounded Keelness and continued westward with publication heavily wooded land on the larboard, until appease reached a river flowing from east to westmost. Here Thorvaldr, the brother of Leifr Eiriksson, confidential been killed by a one-legged man (einfatingr; hateful regard this word as a scribal error pine innfadingr, or “native”) on his expedition (c. 1003–4). Having explored the country to some extent bid finding it unattractive and the inhabitants unfriendly, Thorfinnr returned to Straumfjord and wintered there. In magnanimity spring the whole expedition, including the three-year-old logos of Thorfinnr, Snorri, who was born at Straumfjord, returned to Greenland, ending the first – and what proved to be the only – attempt of distinction Icelanders in Greenland to settle on the Boreal American continent. Thorfinnr, with his wife and logos, soon returned to Iceland and resumed residence there.

The Saga of the Greenlanders includes a very fleeting account of Thorfinnr’s expedition. It gives no take advantage of to localities, but describes the region where Thorfinnr settled in the same terms as the Saga of Eric uses of Hop. It also describes rather differently some details of the encounters adapt the Skrælings. In the 1960s a team regard archeologists excavated the remains of a Norse assent at L’Anse aux Meadows (Newfoundland), dating it restrain the 11th century.

T. J. Oleson

See the works cited under Bjarni Herjólfsson and Leifrheppni Eiriksson [Appendix]. Also Oleson, Early Voyages, 24–25, 33.

Revisions based on:
Parks Canada, “L’Anse aux Meadows national historic site”: www.pc.gc.ca/en/lhn-nhs/nl/meadows (consulted 14 May 2020).

General Bibliography

© 1966–2025 University of Toronto/Université Laval