What is Leif Erikson Day?
{{Infobox Holiday |holiday_name= Leif Erikson Day |image= |caption= |observedby= [[United States]], [[Canada]], [[Iceland]] |date= October 9 |type=Cultural |significance= Recognize contributions of Americans of Nordic descent |nickname= <!-- next three if holiday is the same day of the same week every year --> |celebrations = |observances = |relatedto = }} '''Leif Erikson Day''' is a holiday that happens on October 9. It honors [[Leif Ericson]], the [[Norsemen|Norse]] [[explorer]] who brought the first Europeans known to be in [[North America]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.gonorway.no/norway/articles/eriksson/41/index.html |title=''Leiv Erikson'' (Go Norway. 2007) |access-date=2011-05-05 |archive-date=2011-07-19 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110719010140/http://www.gonorway.no/norway/articles/eriksson/41/index.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> ==History== ''America Not Discovered by Columbus'' by [[Rasmus B. Anderson]] was published in 1874. This book helped make popular the idea that [[Vikings]] were the [[Norse colonization of the Americas|first Europeans in the New World]]. In 1925, American President [[Calvin Coolidge]] recognised Leif Erikson as the Discoverer of America. This was due to research by Norwegian-American scholars such as [[Knut Gjerset]] and [[Ludvig Hektoen]].<ref>[http://www.naha.stolaf.edu/pubs/nas/volume33/vol33_01.htm ''Becoming American, Becoming Suburban: Norwegians in the 1920s'' (Knut Gjerset and Ludvig Hektoen. Norwegian-American Historical Association.Volume 33: Page 3)]{{Dead link|date=February 2021 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> In 1930, [[Wisconsin]] became the first state to officially adopt Leif Erikson Day as a state holiday. A year later, the state of [[Minnesota]] did the same. By 1956, Leif Erikson Day was an official holiday seven states (Wisconsin, Minnesota, South Dakota, Illinois, Colorado, Washington, and California) and one Canadian province (Saskatchewan). <ref>[http://www.nb.no/leiveriksson/leiv_carl.html ''My Minneap