The Icelandic Saga Database
sagadb.org
sagadb.org
You can read about it in two sagas:
The Saga of Erik the Red (Eiríks saga rauða) has a description of Erik's son Leif leading an expedition to Vinland:
https://www.sagadb.org/eiriks_saga_rauda.en
The Greenland Saga (Grænlendinga saga) has more information on the journey if you can read Icelandic, but there is no English translation in this database at the moment.
The actual discovery was not by Erik but by an earlier voyage around 985 by Bjarni, who navigated the coast but decided not to enter the unknown land. The later voyage was inspired by his information.
The vikings considered the journey from Greenland to Vinland the most dangerous journey in their trading network, navigating storms and icebergs in their open boats. However, Vinland provided a source of valuable wood, a scarce resource around their homes in Greenland.
There is archeological evidence of their visits on Newfoundland. You can visit their site in L'Anse aux Meadows with distinct viking houses and metal artefacts:
https://www.newfoundlandlabrador.com/top-destinations/lanse-...
For an early look at democracy vs mob rule the The Story of Burnt Njal is great.
For great poetry[1], adventurism and, well, funny-shaped heads, Egil's Saga is also great.
If I remember, a lot of the Sagas will reference other ones, and the style definitely gives you the sense that they were spoken for centuries before they were written down. It's also worth noting that many (most?) were written down by Christians based on the tellings. Some people think the outlook of the Christians writing down these mostly-pagan tales comes through a little more than the original telling. Sorry I don't have a source for that.
If I remember correctly many Icelanders can trace their ancestry back to the subjects of some of these Sagas.
If you decide to read some, what I found was that I was mostly lost in the first saga, but by the third or fourth in a row the style started making more sense. It gets immersive.
[1] Old Norse poetry doesn't easily translate into English but a lot of the style still comes through. They relied heavily on kennings. There's a good description on wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenning
History is the only source you need. It would have been considered heresy to to otherwise, and it was common at the time for Christian scholars to reframe pagan gods as wicked sorcerers or demons and the like. In the Prose Edda, Snorri Sturluson states the gods are human descendants of Trojan heroes. It's also likely the descriptions of "light elves" and "dark elves" (basically angels and demons) along with Ragnarok (Apocalypse) and Baldr's death and resurrection (Christ motif) were retooled if not fabricated entirely to turn these 'dangerous pagan lies' into useful Christian metaphors.
Unfortunately we'll never know how much was changed, but we can be absolutely certain things were changed.
That said, I came across a reading Brennu-Njálssaga a year or two ago, read by Árman Jakobsson (a medieval literature expert; and a brother of the Prime Minister) and it sparked a new interest in these stories. These stories are written to be read out loud. They were first authored to be remembered and recited, and when they were written down in books the common practice was still for one reader to read them out loud to a group of people as entertainment. Reading was a social event, not private like it is today. If your are interested in the sagas, for sure try to find a recording of a good reading and listen, as opposed to reading your self.
Sveinbjörn is a ball of energy that just radiates positives for human society.
Consequently, anyone learning Old Norse from a textbook published in the last century will have some mental conversion to deal with when using this site.
Also, don’t expect to speak Icelandic as a tourist in Iceland. The local people are well known for keeping aloof from tourists (tourists most often interact with a foreign workforce brought in from Poland etc. to serve them), and unless you have already gone through a course of the language that has prepared you to handle a full conversation, they will simply immediately switch to English; otherwise they would feel you are just wasting their time.
I don't think this is a fair characterization. Icelandic people have however gotten very used to speaking English in their day-to-day lives because there are so many immigrants that don't speak Icelandic. Practically every time you go to a store and talk to a clerk, you'll have to speak English.
It is often very welcomed when you ask to speak Icelandic and are learning. People will take the time, slow down their speech and offer words of encouragement like "you are doing really well"
A friend of mine tells the story of being in a bar in Reykjavik minding his own business, when two young ladies approached him and after a little small talk asked, "Do you know how to make love to an Icelander?" When he answered, "no", they replied, "You just ask." He turned beet red and left as quickly as possible, but... that doesn't sound aloof to me ;-)
Is that what they call it these days?
And if I'm not mistaken, two of us worked briefly with @halldorel (commented below) at an earlier Icelandic start-up. It's a small world (if you're Icelandic).
Edit: Scratch that, three Gardeners worked with @halldorel.
In addition there exist a number of sagas written in Icelandic which takes place before the settlement of Iceland. These are often more fantastic and with more supernatural elements and sometimes guest appearances by the Norse Gods (although the authors are always quick to point out that they are not actually Gods, but just Turks.)