10 points. I need help with my history.
2007-09-17 09:52:23 · 6 answers · asked by ballinsohard12 3 in Education & Reference ➔ Homework Help
i meant the
2007-09-17 09:52:37 · update #1
We have a direct link with Columbus. His accomplishments are well documented and we can see how his discoveries led straight to the colonization of North America.
The Vikings exploits in North America are lost to legend and conjecture.
2007-09-17 09:58:03 · answer #1 · answered by Lew 4 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Because when people decided to celebrate the 'discovery' of American (and it's funny they gave that honor to Columbus because he was never there) they didn't know about any earlier 'discoveries'. In fact, there is pretty sound evidence that South Americans reached up into what is now America, that Polynesian voyagers made the trip, that Japanese fishermen made the trip, as did Portugese fisherment, and that explorers came over the pole.
Global warming, which has recently re-opened the North West Passage, for the first time in several centuries, has happened before, and earlier explorers, including the Vikings, the Russians etc. were able to use that waterway. In recent centuries it has been closed, so historians tended to discount theories that suggested that America could have been reached by that route.
2007-09-17 10:01:24 · answer #2 · answered by old lady 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Because Columbus brought along a navigator for the trip, who was able to tell others how to get lost in exactly the same way they had, and thereby make more voyages to the continent that was almost named Vespuccia.
That's the difference. The Vikings apparently came here once or twice, never being really sure where "here" was or how to deliberately come back, and certainly didn't stay long enough to give anyone Smallpox.
After Columbus, others made voyages here deliberately for various purposes, not the least of which was to seek out more people to "persuade" to become Catholics.
2007-09-17 10:01:14 · answer #3 · answered by open4one 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The true reason we celebrate Colombus versus the Vikings is that Viking settlements were not discovered (and confirmed) until after the myth of Colombus had become part of our collective consciousness.
2007-09-17 12:02:03 · answer #4 · answered by thebeardedhobo 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Because the Vikings didn't go back to Queen Isabella and flaunt their discovery.
2007-09-17 09:57:05 · answer #5 · answered by realbohemian 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Columbus had a better PR man.
2007-09-17 09:59:31 · answer #6 · answered by Volusian 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋