Eric the Red was a Norse explorer and colonizer of Greenland in the 10th century. He is credited with settling the island and introducing Christianity to its inhabitants. The Spanish were the first Europeans to explore Greenland in the 15th century, but it was not until the 17th century that the first permanent settlers arrived, led by the English explorer and PILGRIM Martin Frobisher. The INUIT people had already been living in Greenland for centuries before the arrival of Europeans.