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Karlsefni Thorfinn
(980– after 1007)

Thorfinn Karlsefni was an Icelandic explorer who circa 1010 AD led an attempt to settle Vinland with three ships and 160 settlers. Among the settlers was Freydís Eiríksdóttir, half-sister (but according to Grœnlendinga saga she was a full sister) of Leif Eriksson. Karlsefni's wife gave birth to a boy in Vinland, known as Snorri Guðriðsson (as Guðrið outlived Thorfinn), the first child of European descent known to have been born in the New World and to whom many Icelanders can trace their roots. The exact location of Karlsefni's colony is unknown but is believed to potentially be the excavated Norse camp at L'Anse aux Meadows, Newfoundland.

In the early twentieth century, Einar Jónsson, an Icelandic sculptor, created a statue of Thorfinn Karlsefni which was placed in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Iceland, 1939, Statue of Thorfinn Karlsefni

Iceland, 1939, Statue of Thorfinn Karlsefni

Iceland, 1939/1947, Statue of Thorfinn Karlsefni

Iceland, 1943, Statue of Thorfinn Karlsefni

Iceland, 1945, Statue of Thorfinn Karlsefni