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[[Image:Eric the Red.png|right|thumb|200px|Eric the Red from Arngrímur Jónsson's Gronlandia.]]
[[Image:Eric the Red.png|right|thumb|200px|Eric the Red from Arngrímur Jónsson's Gronlandia.]]
'''Eric the Red''' was a 10<sup>th</sup> century [[Viking]]. He was expelled from [[Norway]] on charges of murder, and took his family away to [[Iceland]], which had been settled by Vikings about a hundred years earlier. After his involvement in several killings there, he was banished and went to [[Greenland]], where he started the first successful colony in that land around the year 985. Eric is best known as the father of [[Leif Erikson]], who started the first [[Europe]]an colony in [[America]] around the year 1000, although it ultimately lasted only a few decades.
'''Eric the Red''' was a 10<sup>th</sup> century [[Viking]]. He was expelled from [[Norway]] on charges of murder, and took his family away to [[Iceland]], which had been settled by Vikings about a hundred years earlier. After his involvement in several killings there, he was banished and went to [[Greenland]], where he started the first successful colony in that land around the year 985. Eric is best known as the father of [[Leif Erikson]], who started the first [[Europe]]an colony in [[Americas|America]] around the year 1000, although it ultimately lasted only a few decades.
Eric's interesting name is in the style of his times. People in that culture often assumed descriptive names, along with a "patronymic" name identifying the father. Eric's "real" name was Eric Thorvaldsson, because his father's name was Thorvald. This style of naming persists in Iceland today. But Eric had very red [[hair]], so people called him "Eric the Red" most of the time.
Eric's interesting name is in the style of his times. People in that culture often assumed descriptive names, along with a "patronymic" name identifying the father. Eric's "real" name was Eric Thorvaldsson, because his father's name was Thorvald. This style of naming persists in Iceland today. But Eric had very red [[hair]], so people called him "Eric the Red" most of the time.