The different sailing routes to Greenland, Vinland (Newfoundland), Helluland (Baffin Island) and Markland (Labrador) travelled by different characters in the Icelandic Sagas, mainly Saga of Erik the Red and Saga of the Greenlanders. The names are the common modern English versions of the old Norse names

Eiríks saga rauđa or the Saga of Erik the Red is a saga on the Norse exploration of North-America. In the saga, the events that led to Erik the Red's banishment to Greenland are chronicled, as well as Leif Ericson's discovery of Vinland the Good, after his longship was blown off course. By geographical details, this place is thought to be present-day Newfoundland, and is likely the first European discovery of the American mainland, some five centuries before Christopher Columbus's journey.

The saga is preserved in two manuscripts in somewhat different versions; Hauksbók (14th century) and Skálholtsbók (15th century). Modern philologists believe the Skálholtsbók version to be truer to the original. The original saga is thought to have been written in the 13th century.

See also: Vinland sagas, Grœnlendinga saga.

External links

• Full text in Old Norse, English and Norwegian at the Icelandic Saga Database
• The Norse Discovery of America
• The text of the saga according to Hauksbók; with manuscript spelling
• A part of the saga with the manuscript spelling and English and Danish translations
• The saga with standardized Old Norse spelling
• The saga with standardized modern Icelandic spelling
• A treatment of the nationality of Leifr Eiríksson
• A treatment of the uniped in the saga
• Saga of Eric the Red from Project Gutenberg

es:Saga de Erik el Rojo fr:Saga d'Erik le Rouge is:Eiríks saga rauđa it:Saga di Erik il Rosso nl:Eiríks saga rauđa no:Eirik Raudes saga sv:Erik Rödes saga