Bjarni Herjólfsson

Bjarni Herjólfsson was a Norse explorer, believed to be the first European to view mainland North America. While sailing from Iceland to Greenland in 986, Herjólfsson was blown off course in a storm. Though he managed to regain his course, he reported seeing low-lying hills covered with forests somewhere to the west. Though the land looked hospitable, he was eager to reach his destination and spent no time exploring the new lands. He did, however, report his findings both in Greenland and in Norway, but no one seemed to have taken any interest in them at the time. Ten years later, however, Leif Eriksson took the claims more seriously and set out to find the elusive land. The result was the Viking colony at L'Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland, the first attempt at European settlement in the Americas.