I heard that Christopher Columbus wasn't the first person to 'discover' America, is this true?

Question

I believe it is, but, me being pakeha (white) I can't be bothered to REALLY search for who it was. I can't remember their name. so, if you know, PLEASE drop me a line? Button's right underneath the text, so it shouldn't be too hard to find, eh?
Thankee,
~.~

Sah-weet!
Finally, open minded peoples! Diggidy dog dang, wher've you been? (lol, jk) thanks sooooo much!!

Answer 1

The Vikings were here long before he was!

Answer 2

Well, obviously the first people to discover America were the people who migrated through Alaska from Asia and become the millions of Native Americans who were around when Columbus arrived.

The first Europeans to show up in America were the Vikings sometime around the 10th century. It's not clear which individual lead the first Viking expedition to America, although some claim it was Eric the Red, who first colonized Iceland and Greenland.

Answer 3

Native Americans were first, the Vikings discovered North America centuries before Columbus. The Vikings also were the first to establish a town on Greenland.

Answer 4

Well, you can't "discover" something, if there are people living there already. Obviously, they dscovered it first.

But there is strong evidence that two others discovered America before Columbus. Chinese found the California coast, and the vikings found the Atlantic coast several hundred years before Columbus. But they did not settle the continent, because they hae better countries back at home! :)

Answer 5

ummmmm.....maybe by the end of this century we will find more claimants for the award winning discovery of America...lol

So here's the scoop for the past...

Christophorus Columbus "founded" America...he did not dicover it...

Leif Errikson, an Icelandic-European adventurer explorer, traveled the North American continent five centuries before Christophorus Columbus...

The name America was derived from the Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci and applies to both North and South America...early 1500's... He was the first to identify and chart the coastlines of both continents as being separated from Asia and thus made it possible for the first map (birth certificate) to be drawn revealing both North and South America...

At that era of time, Europeans referred to people by their first names and places were always given a female gender name. Amerigo, male gender, was translated into Latin as Amerigus, which is feminine, and then translated back to English as America...feminine...! Originally, there were five hundred maps to verify this and one is now available at our Library of Congress Archives and thru the internet...

Now, you know "the rest of the story...!"

Answer 6

Haha, heck no, when Colombus got to America the Native Americans were there. They were said to have migrated over hundreds of years on a strip of land that once commected Asia to todays North America. It is still a big controversy who "discovered" America first but it definately wasn't Colombus because Magellan was before that but there was someone also before Magellan.

Answer 7

There is much evidence to suggest that Leif Ericsson landed on the north american continent long before Columbus was even born. However, the Vikings weren't really into exploration for exploration's sake - they were looking for lands to plunder, treasures to steal, etc. Wasn't any of that, so no further interest.

Answer 8

we will never know the single "person" to discover America because it was so long ago. It was way before the Vikings and they were there thousands of years ago from Asia and also along the East coast mostly in the Mexico area but these will not be recognized or taken seriously.

Answer 9

That is absolutly true their was a viking village that settled in New Foundland! They were then driven off by the Algonquin people or the Natice Americans! They leader was Erik the Red and his son was Leif Erikson

Answer 10

Cristopher Columbus wus the first one to discover America but he didn't know he did, then he died so he really never knew he discovered America.Some dude named Amerigo something wus the one that gave America it's name cause he went there after Christopher Columbus.But Christopher Columbus did discover America.

Answer 11

Indians