October 9th, 2024
| Web site: | http://www.history.com/topics/exploration/leif-eriksson |
Christopher Columbus may not have been the first European explorer to set food in the New World. Leif Erikson Day is an annual American observance which occurs on October 9. It honors Leif Erikson, the Norse explorer who led the first Europeans thought to have set foot in continental North America. October 9 is not significant to Erikson's life. Instead, the date was chosen because the ship Restauration coming from Stavanger, Norway, arrived in New York Harbor on October 9, 1825, at the start of the first organized immigration from Norway to the United States.
