They fancied an outing and got lost.

Iceland's Ties to Canada A Short History * AD 985 Icelandic trader Bjami Herjolfsson sighted the east cost of North America after being blown off course on a voyage to the Icelandic colonies in Greenland. * 1001-1002 Leifur Eriksson discovered Vinland, now widely believed to be in L'Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland, Canada, where the ruins of a Norse settlement have been discovered. * 1004-1007 Thorvaldur Eriksson and Thorstein Erikson voyaged from Greenland to North America, but were unsuccessful in establishing any colonies. * 1011-1013 Thorfinn Karlsefni attempts to establish a colony in North America. Hostility between the Icelanders and the aboriginals caused it to fail, but Thorfinn's son, Snorri, was the first European child to be born in North America * 1014-1015 Leifur Eriksson's sister, Freydis, led a colonizing expedition that ended in bloodshed between the settlers and conflicts with the aboriginals. This is the last recorded attempt by the Icelanders to colonize North America in pre-columbian times. * September 12, 1872 Sigtryggur Jonasson arrives in Canada to scout land for a possible Icelandic settlement. * 1875 An advance party of 235 Icelanders arrives in Winnipeg and travels to Lake Winnipeg. The Republic of New Iceland -or Nyja Island - is established with its own constitution and laws separate from the province of Manitoba. * 1881 New Iceland joins the province of Manitoba and the Icelanders begin their process of integration into Canadian society while at the same time maintaining strong ties to their Fatherland that continue to this day.