After being exiled from Iceland for manslaughter, a Viking known as Erik the Red headed west in search of a new home. The bearded, red-haired explorer ventured 180 miles away, arriving on land that was not yet part of any European settlement. He spotted a green meadow and named the area Greenland, hoping to entice others to come. From about 985 to 1450, a small population of Vikings farmed and built communities on the island’s southern coast. Then, they mysteriously vanished.