Leif Ericsson was the son of Erik the Red, the Viking. They were Vikings of Scandinavia if I'm not mistaken. So I guess you can say it was a tribe of/Scandinavia that funded his travels. It is said that they were actually the first Europeans to travel to North America. Iceland/Greenland and then somehow stumbled to Nova Scotia.
Leif Erikson's exploration of North America was funded by the Viking community in Greenland, which was part of the larger Norse culture. He embarked on his journey around 1000 AD, motivated by accounts of new lands. Although there were no formal funding systems, influential leaders within Viking society sponsored these expeditions.
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