Christopher Columbus is credited by some historians with the European "discovery" of North America but the truth is that his explorations were preceded by Leif Eriksson’s expedition to North America by almost 500 years. The majority of Europe did not become aware of Eriksson’s expedition, so Columbus’s journey was the one that was recorded in history and taught in classrooms for centuries. After centuries of celebrating Columbus, around 1965 archaeologists found conclusive evidence around Newfoundland of a settlement by Leif Eriksson from around 1,000 AD. A settlement of Norsemen from four to five centuries before Columbus’s voyage proved he was not the first. Although Eriksson had been ignored by history up until this point, President Lyndon B. Johnson decided to commemorate a holiday for Eriksson after the discovery of his settlement in 1965.
The archaeological evidence presents another interesting conclusion, Columbus explored islands in a place around Venezuela but his actual landing location on the first voyage is in dispute. It is known however, that when exploring the new world he didn’t step foot onto the North American continent. Eriksson on the other hand had established a town in modern-day Newfoundland four to five hundred years earlier. This information seems to boost Eriksson’s importance in history. However Eriksson’s settlements were not made public to the rest of the European continent, and for keeping his discoveries hidden from Europe at the time he missed a golden opportunity to continue exploration and settlement five hundred years earlier. This is why the world had to wait a few centuries before anyone in Europe and Asia became aware of America’s existence. Despite Eriksson missing a golden opportunity to change the world, this information is still profoundly remarkable and changes our view on the history of discovery and early expeditions.
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