After recent travels to Italy I told the story of Giuseppe Garibaldi and how he is so famous that his statues appear all over the World and now I have been to Iceland and seen Leif Ericson and although not nearly as prolific in his bronze and stones appearances as Giuseppe, Leif does seem to have an impressive number of likenesses of his own, especially in the USA.
This is not entirely surprising of course because Norsemen from Greenland and Iceland were the first Europeans to reach North America in what is today Newfoundland, Canada when Leif Ericson reached the Continent via Norse settlements in Greenland around the year 1000.
Nearly a thousand years later many Norwegian immigrants went to the United States primarily in the second half of the nineteenth and the first few decades of the twentieth century. According to the most recent United States census there are more than four and a half million Norwegian Americans and most live in the Upper Midwest and currently comprise the tenth largest American ancestry group.
In the two pictures above Leif can be seen in Boston, Massachusetts and then not surprisingly in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Below he is in Chicago, Illinois and (my personal favourite) Newport News in Virginia.
Have Bag, Will Travel 
Just outside Ballarat is a small area called Garibaldi. It isn’t a town or a hamlet but an area. It was named that by Italian Gold Miners during the Gold rush of the 1850s. Just thought you’d like to know.
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Thanks for that, I mentioned that once in a previous post…
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Lief got around… and is still traveling! 🙂 He hasn’t reached Columbus status in America, yet. Both are challenged by Native Americans. –Curt
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That is a good point Curt. How arrogant that we thing North America (or Australia) was discovered by Europeans!
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Aside from obvious religious statues (I am guessing Buddha 1st, Jesus 2nd and Virgin Mary 3rd), I wonder which historical figure outside their country of birth has the most statues of their likeness? Che, Mandela in the modern era perhaps. I am guessing Mao in birth country.
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Ghandi perhaps? He is certainly in Hull!
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Reblogged this on clawingmywayin.
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This makes sense to me. I definitely studied Leif Erickson in school right along with Columbus, but not Garibaldi. Perhaps history textbook writers thought explorers were more worthy of knowing. So all these kids grow up learning who Erickson is, and all these Norwegian descendants live here, and viola!
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So do you have Norwegian heritage?
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Not a speck that I am aware of.
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