Abby Connolly
Often, when we picture Vikings who lived centuries ago, we envision big, burly men with long beards and impressive armor like those Viking hats with the horns coming out of them.
But what if I told you that the Viking who was believed to have traveled all the way from Greenland to North America hundreds of years before Christopher Columbus was a woman?
There are many sagas surrounding Gudrid Thorbjarnardóttir, otherwise known as Gudrid the Far-Traveled. It is said she was born in Iceland in the late 10th century, around 985 AD, and she was the daughter of a chieftain.
Gudrid’s story is best known from the “Saga of Erik the Red,” which details her remarkable travels.
When she was only 15, she traveled to Greenland with her father, Thorbjorn, as a Viking settlement was being built there.
During their journey, Gudrid was introduced to Leif Erikson, the son of Erik the Red, who was her father’s friend. She also met Erik’s other son, Thorstein Erikson, whom she married once she settled in Greenland.
However, after that settlement was hit with the plague, Thorstein fell ill and died, and Gudrid moved to an Eastern settlement in Greenland, where she met her next husband, Thorfinn Karlsefni.
Alongside Thorfinn, Gudrid sailed from Greenland to the New World they called “Vinland.” Today, that area is known as North America. They sailed there with around 60 other men, five women, and some livestock, hoping to settle there comfortably.
After arriving in Vinland, Gudrid gave birth to her and Thorfinn’s son, Snorri. Scholars believe Snorri was the first European person born in the New World.
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