Eric the Red (950–1000) (Old Norse and Icelandic: Eiríkur rauði) founded the
first Nordic settlement in Greenland. The appellation "the Red" refers to his
red facial hair. Eric had to flee Norway because of "some killings", as The
Saga of Eric the Red recounts. His family settled in a Norse colony on the
coast of Iceland.

The Icelanders exiled Eric for several murders around the year 982. According
to The Saga of Eric the Red, his neighbor Thorgest borrowed a few wooden
bench-boards and when they did not come back to Eric, he sought an
explanation. When Thorgest refused to return them, Erik stole them back.
In the following chase, he killed Thorgest's two sons.

A second crime laid at Eric's door occurred when Eric insisted upon revenge
for the deaths of his slaves who had "accidentally started a landslide" on
Valthjof's farm. Valthjof murderously punished the slaves for this misfortune.
Erik did not take kindly to this and so slew Valthjof. The Icelanders
eventually convicted Eric of these murders and banished him from Iceland. This
event led him and a group of followers to travel to the lands nearly 500 miles
west of Iceland.

<HR>