But as time passed on, the people of Iceland felt a new impulse for
colonization in strange lands, and the tide of emigration began to tend
towards Greenland in the west. This was chiefly inaugurated by a man
named Eric the Red, born in Norway in the year 935. On account of
manslaughter, he was obliged to flee from Jardar and take up his abode
in Iceland. The date of removal to Iceland is not given, though it is
said that at the time the island was very generally inhabited. Here,
however, he could not live in peace, and early in the year 982, he was
again outlawed for manslaughter by the public Thnig, and condemned to
banishment. He accordingly fitted out a ship, and announced his
determination to go in search of the land lying in the ocean at the
west, which, it was said, Gunnbiorn,[26] Ulf Krage's son, saw, when, in
the year 876, he was driven out to sea by a storm. Eric sailed westward
and found land, where he remained and explored the country for three
years. At the end of this period he returned to Iceland, giving the
newly discovered land the name of Greenland,[27] in order, as he said,
to attract settlers, who would be favorably impressed by so pleasing a
name.
The summer after his return to Iceland, he sailed once more for
Greenland, taking with him a fleet of thirty-five ships, only fourteen
of which reached their destination, the rest being either driven back or
lost. This event took place, as the Saga says, fifteen winters[28]
before the introduction of Christianity into Iceland, which we know was
accomplished in the year A. D. 1000. The date of Eric's second voyage
must therefore be set down at 985.[29]
But, before proceeding to the next step in Icelandic adventure, it will
be necessary to give a brief sketch of the progress of the Greenland
colony, together with a relation of the circumstances which led to its
final extinction.