In the third or fourth grade, a dozen hands will fly up in the classrooom when the teacher asks, “Now who can tell me: who discovered America?” The normal answer is, Christopher Columbus. In fact, if you were to query adults, nine out of ten will say the same. It’s curious that this is the generally accepted truth, because the facts contradict this answer, in no uncertain terms.
Webster’s New World Dictionary defines the word, discover, as follows: “1. to be the first to find out, see, etc. 2. to learn of the existence of.”
It is a fact that the many Native American tribes were living in America some 1500 years ago, long before Captain Columbus set off from Spain. It may be argued that he and his crew were the first Europeans to see what is now America. However, the Native Americans were already ensconced firmly on the land their ancestors had been the first to see many centuries before.
It’s also well known that the Vikings preceded Columbus to what we call America. The Vikings were able and diligent mariners, with hand-built ships that carried them across the seas, to Britain, Greenland and right on to North America in the 8th and 9th centuries. Some would say that the Vikings were not European, but Scandinavian. Nonetheless, the Scandinavian Vikings were the first people to interact with the already native populations of America.
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