Eiriks saga rauoa or the Saga of Erik the Red is a saga on the Norse exploration of North- America. In the saga, the events that led to Erik the Red's banishment to Greenland are chronicled, as well as Leif Ericson's discovery of Vinland the Good, after his longship was blown off course. By geographical details, this place is thought to be present-day Newfoundland, and is likely the first European discovery of the American mainland, some five centuries before Christopher Columbus's journey. The saga is preserved in two manuscripts in somewhat different versions; Hauksbok (14th century) and Skalholtsbok (15th century). Modern philologists believe the Skalholtsbok version to be truer to the original. The original saga is thought to have been written in the 13th century.