History Fact Finder | Exploration and Settlement - Were The Vikings The First Europeans To Reach North America?

Were the Vikings the first Europeans to reach North America?

Most scholars believe that the Vikings (also called Norsemen; peoples originating in Scandinavia, or present-day Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland) were the first Europeans to reach the Western Hemisphere (North and South America and the surrounding waters). The scholars base their conclusions on the Saga of Erik the Red, a collection of Norse stories. The Vikings were accomplished shipbuilders and sailors. Beginning in the A.D. 700s, they sailed throughout Europe, raiding towns in England, France, Germany, Ireland, Scotland, Italy, Russia, and Spain. They arrived in the Western Hemisphere around 986, when Norwegian-born Erik the Red (c. 950–c. 1004) founded a settlement on present-day Greenland. Later, Viking leader Bjarni Herjolfsson saw the shores of North America after his ship was blown off course during a storm in the north...

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