Thorfinn Karlsefni or Þorfinnur Karlsefni was an Icelandic explorer who led an attempt to settle Vinland circa 1010 A.D. with three ships and 160 settlers. Vinland (pronounced Winland) was the name given to part of North America by the Icelandic Norseman Leif Eiríksson, about year 1000. ... Events The Ly Dynasty in Vietnam is established (or 1009). ...

Also among the 160 settlers was Freydís Eiríksdóttir and Thorvald Eriksson, half-sister and brother of Leif Eriksson. Freydís Eiríksdóttir was a Viking woman who sailed to Vínland in the early 11th century. ... Thorvald Eriksson (old Icelandic: Þorvald Eiríksson) was the son of Erik the Red and brother of Leif Ericson. ... A statue of Leif Ericson in front of the Hallgrímskirkja in Reykjavik Leif Ericson (old Icelandic: Leifr Eiríksson) was an explorer, the son of Eric the Red (Eiríkr rauði), a Norwegian outlaw, who was the son of another Norwegian outlaw, Þorvaldr Ásvaldsson. ...

In the early 20th century, Einar Jonsson, an Icelandic sculptor, created a statue of Thorfinn Karlsefni which was placed in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Einar Jonsson (May 11, 1874 - October 18, 1954) was an Icelandic sculptor, born on Galtafell, a farm in southern Iceland. ... Independence Hall Philadelphia (sometimes referred to as Philly or the City of Brotherly Love) is the fifth most populous city in the United States and the most populous city in the state of Pennsylvania, occupying all of Philadelphia County. ...

(thôr´fĬn kärl´sĕvnē) , fl. 1002-15, Icelandic leader of an attempt to colonize North America. He appeared in Greenland in 1002 and married Gudrid, widow of one of the sons of Eric the Red . He set out c.1010 with an expedition consisting of three ships and 160 men to settle in Vinland , which Leif Ericsson had discovered a few years before. Thorfinn's expedition is recorded in the “Saga of Eric the Red” in the collection of sagas known as Hauksbok, and in a narrative interpolated in the “Saga of Olaf Tryggvason” in the Flateyjarbok. According to the former, which has been favored by most scholars, the expedition came first to a region they called Helluland. Then they passed on to a wooded country which they named Markland, sailed by sandy, desolate beaches called Furdustrands, and settled for the winter in a bay called Straumfjord.

Still seeking the land of grapes, they proceeded southward the next spring until they reached a place called Hop. There they found vines, and there they settled for the next winter, selecting a spot up a river that widened into a lake. Several encounters with the natives, however, in which two of their number were killed, induced them to abandon Hop in the spring and return to Straumfjord, where they spent the third winter. One of the ships, commanded by Thorhall, had deserted the first year after a disagreement and had met disaster in Ireland. With the prospect of attack, plus growing dissension, it was decided to abandon the whole attempt. Returning by Markland, Thorfinn's ship reached Greenland safely; the other was wrecked in the Irish Sea and part of its crew saved.

Much effort has been spent in attempts to identify the lands visited by Thorfinn and to discover his wintering sites, but no theory has won general acceptance. Places from Labrador to New England have been suggested, but such identifications are little more than guesses. There is also divergence on the dates assigned to Thorfinn's expedition.

See Also:

• Erik the Red
• Flateyjarbok
• Hauksbok
• Leif Eriksson
• Vinland
• Vinlandsaga
• Vikings
• Snorri
• Bjarni Herjolfson