Discovering history while exploring the world

Solihull Widney u3a member Barbara shares the stories and historic heroes she has discovered on her travels.

The statue of Leif Erikson in Reykjavík. 
Photo taken by Jon Gretarrson, credit to Wikimedia Commons.

For many of my early years the subject of history would leave me cold and uninspired. I partly attributed that to an education full of fusty information, battles and dates, coupled with a distinct lack of enthusiasm for the topic on my behalf. The teachers I encountered weren’t able to portray the richness of times past and so this area of my interest had yet to be awakened.

In my more mature years, I have been motivated to develop a wider knowledge of the world in which we live and our place within it.

This sense of discovery led to me visiting Iceland ten years ago. Its fascinating culture beckoned me and I arrived armed with a to-do list of the usual tourist attractions. The hotel I stayed in was immediately opposite the main Church of the city; an imposing building which dominates the skyline. The perfect spot for exploring. On visiting, I was stopped in my tracks by an imposing statue in the grounds of the church of a great and intrepid Icelandic explorer known as Leif Erikson. I was surprised to learn that my hotel had been named after this man. I vowed to discover more about his life and his apparent importance which warranted this huge statue in such a prominent place.

The hotel information leaflet was full of myths and legends dating back around 1,000 years ago telling of Leif’s exploration and conquests and dubious family background. I definitely felt he held heroic status. It was difficult to imagine his life back in those times particularly in the harsh conditions of these raw northern climes.

Since my visit and maybe imbued by this hero’s endeavours I have been fortunate since then to have explored various cultures in overseas visits. My trips have satisfied a personal curiosity and thirst without the risks involved of those ancient travellers.

So, here I was on my latest journey abroad. As I descended the airplane steps about to set foot on American soil, it occurred to me that I would be the very latest traveller to arrive in the New World. Many before me had arrived looking for a new start in a strange land.

Staying with family in Pennsylvania I was curious to learn of the derivation of the state’s name and soon learned it had been named after a British Quaker named William Penn. William rejected his Anglican religion and adopted the Quaker values following a visit to Ireland. In 1662 he was expelled from University for his continued interest in promoting the values of The Society of Friends. He was subsequently imprisoned for stating his beliefs and was reviled by respectable society.

It was against this background and unlikely friendship with King Charles II, who was ruling England without Parliament at that time, that a settlement of the King’s debt to William’s late father was reached. William was allocated a vast province of 45,000 square miles in the American colonies, an area almost the size of England itself. The King saw this as a way of settling his outstanding debt at the same time as ridding the country of the Quaker movement. Penn hoped to build a Christian commonwealth in the New World while also providing a refuge for the persecuted Quaker followers, and other oppressed Christians seeking religous freedom.

I wished to further my knowledge and was delighted to learn that Penn’s first landing ground was only a short drive away. The very next day I visited a small town called New Castle on the banks of the Delaware River and viewed the very spot where William Penn took his first steps off his ship called “Welcome” onto American colonial land. A plaque and statue were proudly displayed marking this momentous arrival in 1682.

I then visited the building of the local historical society. A very knowledgeable volunteer was kind enough to regale me with stories about the European settlers around the time of Columbus which also included Vasco de Gama and an Italian explorer, Amerigo Vespuci, from whom the country of America was named.
She concluded, Columbus is all well and good but did I know that he wasn’t the first explorer to set foot in this country as is widely acknowledged? Expressing a look of surprise and continued interest I asked if she meant an arrival a few years before Columbus. She replied, “Oh no, my dear I mean over 400 years before Christopher Columbus’ arrival. Our history confirms that an Icelandic explorer was blown off course from his exploration of Greenland and eventually landed on the shores of our continent some 1,000 years ago. Not many people are aware of that. He was an ancient explorer of Scandinavian descent named Leif Erikson."

Leif Erikson! Hastily sifting through my travel history brain, I began to place the mystery Icelandic hero back to my visit ten years earlier to Reykjavik and the man who had sparked my historical curiosity. It all fell into place. Leif was the first man to set foot in this new land and here I was, the latest arrival with a similar sense of adventure. Who knew that today’s story would end where it began.

I reflected on my gathered knowledge and felt so very grateful that I now knew that history most definitely has a relevant place today. I felt very connected with the past.

Encircling the history of my travels and spanning a millennium, here I was a modern-day Leif Erickson who has once more had made landfall in America.