Leif Ericsson

In 1004 AD Leif Ericsson invented the cell phone.

He was born in Norway but after his father had to flee from prosecution (he was accused of spamming, pretty handy at carving runes or so the story goes) they escaped to Iceland where they up a new phone factory. After some traveling Leif decided to go to America to party with the Indians. During his visit he drank lots of wine and didn't get a hang over. He was from that day onwards known as Leif the lucky.



Ok so that isn't exactly what happened, perhaps this passage will shed some light on him:

It is said to this day that Leif was born around 980 (in Iceland) and was the second son of Erik the Red (Old Norse: Eiríkr rauði), a Norwegian-Icelandic outlaw, himself the son of another Norwegian outlaw, Þorvaldr Ásvaldsson. Leif's mother was Þjóðhildr. Erik had started two Norse colonies, the Western Settlement and the Eastern Settlement, in Greenland, which he had named. As far as it is known, Leif Ericson had two brothers, Þorvaldr and Þorsteinn, and one sister, Freydís. Leif married a woman by the name of Þórgunnr, and they had one son, Þorkell Leifsson.

During a stay in Norway, Leif was converted to Christianity, like many Norse around that time. He also went to Norway to serve the King of Norway, Olaf Tryggvason. When he returned to Greenland, he bought the boat of Bjarni Herjólfsson, and set out to explore the land that Bjarni had found, today known as North America.

The Saga of the Greenlanders tells that Leif set out around 1000 to follow Bjarni's circular route with 35 crew members, but in the opposite direction.[1] The first land he met was covered with flat rock slabs (Old Norse: hellur). He therefore called it Helluland ("Land of the Flat Stones"), probably the present day Baffin Island. Next he came to a land that was flat and wooded, with white sandy beaches, which he called Markland ("Wood-land"), usually assumed to have been Labrador.

When Leif and his crew left Markland and found land again, they landed and built some houses. They found the land pleasant: there were plenty of salmon in the river, and the climate was mild, with little frost in the winter, and green grass year-round. They remained at this place over the winter. The sagas mention that one of Leif's men, Tyrkir, possibly a German warrior, found grapes, and that Leif named the country Vínland after them.

On the return voyage, Leif rescued an Icelandic castaway named Þórir and his crew — an incident that earned Leif the nickname 'Leif the Lucky' (Old Norse: Leifr hinn heppni).

From our good friends at Wikipedia

More info about Leif

This statue can be found outside of Hallgríms Kirkja, or the Church of Hallgrim in Reykjavik.

- The Thor all rights reserved