In 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue. I’m sure you’re familiar with the singsong mnemonic meant for remembering the year Christopher Columbus stumbled upon islands in the Caribbean. This set off a chain reaction of European exploration that transformed two continents. But did you know Viking explorers actually reached North America 500 years before Columbus? Let’s fix that. 


Sources: 

• https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277379118307261
• https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/footprint-study-is-best-evidence-yet-that-humans-lived-in-ice-age-north-america-180978757/
• https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-vikings-a-memorable-visit-to-america-98090935/#:~:text=But%20more%20and%20more%20scholars,too%20cold%20even%20for%20Vikings.
• https://www.history.co.uk/articles/harald-hardrada-the-last-viking
• https://www.express.co.uk/news/royal/1497931/Queen-Elizabeth-Family-tree-related-to-William-the-Conqueror-evg
• https://www.history.com/news/10-things-you-may-not-know-about-william-the-conqueror
• https://scandinaviafacts.com/why-dont-the-vikings-get-credit-for-discovering-america-2/
• https://www.britannica.com/story/did-the-vikings-discover-america
• https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2013/10/14/232120128/how-columbus-sailed-into-u-s-history-thanks-to-italians
• https://www.history.com/news/6-things-we-owe-to-the-vikings
• A "Short History of" podcast episode about Vikings

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