Bjarni

Bjarni was a Viking who got lost once.

Fiction

Bjarni lived in Erik the Red's Greenland settlement nearly two thousand years ago. On one occasion, his boat was blown off course, and he saw in the distance an unknown landmass.

Fifteen years later, Leif Eriksson reminded his father of Bjarni's sighting, suggesting it to be rich in the resources their colony was short of. Leif took thirty-five men to the new land, and thus they became the first explorers of North America, long before Christopher Columbus. The Saga of Erik the Red

Notes

• Bjarni is Bjarni Herjólfsson, a Norse-Icelandic explorer who, in 986, got blown off course between Iceland and Greenland, and thus became the first known European to set sight on the Americas. Despite his crew's urge to explore, Bjarni refused to shore up before they reached Greenland, where he could reunite with his parents. Leif retraced Bjarni's journey on his quest for more timber.