[BackInBlack]

At risk of sounding politically correct...I'm not sure of the significance of Vikings landing here "first" since Native Americans were already here. The significance of Columbus was not that he was here first -- he wasn't -- but rather that he brought news of the area back to Europe, sparking an historical period of settlement and colonization. And that's pretty darn significant. So if the Vikings didn't do that, AND they weren't here before the Natives, then who cares?

[Let's Roll]

Well said.

[truth_seeker]

"The significance of Columbus was not that he was here first -- he wasn't -- but rather that he brought news of the area back to Europe, sparking an historical period of settlement and colonization."

I read that the significance of Columbus was: He embodied true modern business enterprise.

His effort combined the best science and technology, with fundraising.

Maps from previous Atlantic explorers yielded the route to take.

Queen of Spain gave the Italian money.

Alotof American history sure skips quickly from 1492 (discovery by latin-types) to 1620 (settlement by decent north-western europeans).

Lief came in 1000. He left, rather than get clobbered by Skraelings. By 1000 Lief was believed to be a Christian. A Norwegian, by way of Iceland and Greenland.

Mayflower 620 years later.

[FreedomCalls]

I have to agree. Certainly there is evidence that the Olmec head statues are depictions of Africans whom the trade winds blew across the South Atlantic from West-Central Africa to modern day Brazil. There's no evidence they went back, but it is pretty good that they arrived and the natives carved these heads depicting them. But it doesn't mean they "discovered" America before Columbus.