Season 29, Day 16 - "The Big Island"

It's Explorer week, and today's quiz is inspired by Erik the Red.

Erik the Red

Erik the Red was a Viking explorer. Born Erik Thorvaldsson in Norway, he most likely earned his nickname from his red hair and beard. He moved to Iceland in the 10th century after his father Thorvald was banished for manslaughter. When Erik was similarly banned from Iceland for killing his neighbor in a feud, he founded the first European settlement on the island of Greenland, which he gave that name in the hopes of attracting settlers. Erik the Red is featured in multiple Icelandic sagas along with his son, fellow explorer Leif Eriksson. Though Erik himself remained a pagan, his family embraced Christianity, with his wife establishing the first European church in the Americas at his farm estate (known as Brattahlid). Remains of this church were uncovered in excavations of Brattahlid by Danish archaeologists in 1932. Many theories exist, but we still don’t know exactly why the Viking colony on Greenland died out in the 15th century after surviving there for nearly 500 years.