Significance:
Leif Erikson Day is an annual American observance. It honors Leif Erikson, the Norse explorer regarded as the first European to land in North America (excluding Greenland), nearly 500 years before Christopher Columbus.
Type:
Observances
Location:
USA
Initiator:
US-Congress
Start year:
1964
Date origin:
October 9 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.