Erik the Red (Eiríkur Rauði c.950-1003) was the founder of the first Nordic settlement in Greenland (long before it had been named Greenland, it had been inhabited by the Inuit people) and father of Leifur "the Lucky" Eiríksson. Erik the Red was so called because of his red hair. Born in Norway, he was the son of Þorvaldur Ásvaldsson or Torvald Asvaldsson, and was also called Erik Torvaldsson (or Eiríkur Þorvaldsson). Note that the Þorvaldsson is a patronymic, not a surname.
In about 960, Erik's father was forced to flee Norway because of a murder. The family settled in Iceland, but in 982, Erik was outlawed there too because of another murder. He decided to search for a land further east of Iceland which had been spotted earlier a discoverer named Gunnbjörn, who gave it the name "Gunnbjarnarsker" (Gunnbjörn's skerries". Erik spent three years in Greenland (his period of banishment), and then returned to Iceland with tall stories about this new-found land. With a large number of colonists, he returned to Greenland and established two colonies on its west coast: the eastern settlement (near the south point), which he named Brattahlid and the western settlement (around Nuuk). The settlement venture involved twenty-five ships, fourteen of which made the journey successfully--some turned back, while others were lost at sea.
The settlement flourished, and the original party was joined by groups of immigrants escaping overcrowding in Iceland. However, one group of immigrants that arrived in 1002 brought with it an epidemic that decimated the colony, killing many of its leading citizens, including Erik in the winter of 1003. Nevertheless, the colony was able to bounce back and survived well into the fifteen century, shortly before Christopher Columbus made his fateful journey.
Erik had four children. He had a daughter, Freydís, as well as three sons, the explorer Leifur Eiríksson, Þorvald, and Þorsteinn.