Christopher Columbus did not discover America in 1492.

Leif Erickson did in 992 – 500 years earlier.

Therefore, the final discovery remains questionable between two men from different areas of the world who landed in different areas of the world with both having the same goal.

“When America was ‘discovered’ by Italian explorer Christopher Columbus in 1492, Viking navigators had already landed on the shores of the New World centuries before.”  There is no evidence that Columbus ever set foot on the mainland of North America, wrote History.com.

This Monday, October 14, will be celebrated as “Columbus Day,” while October 9th has been designated “Leif Erikson Day.”   Columbus Day was to honor Columbus by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.  Many lobbyists fought to have a Catholic hero celebrated regarding America’s founding. Thus, the holiday was formed.

Erickson was a Viking explorer credited with reaching the continent around the year 1,000 – nearly 500 years before Columbus, who was a Spanish explorer.  Erickson is known for being the first European explorer in Vinland, which is a part of North America, probably Newfoundland.

In www.wikipedia.com, Erickson “was a Norse explorer who is thought to have been the first European to set foot on Continental America, approximately half a millennium (500 years) before Christopher Columbus.  According to the sagas of Icelanders, he established a Norse settlement at Vinland, which is interpreted as coastal North America.   There is ongoing speculation that the settlement made by Erickson and his crew corresponds to the remains of a Norse settlement found in Newfoundland, Canada, which was occupied approximately 1,000 years ago.

The Norse explorer was born around the 970’s in Iceland.  His place of birth is unknown.  He died between 1018-1025 in Greenland.  Erickson never married, but his partner, Thorgunna, was the mother of his two children.  His father was Eric the Red.

It is written that Leif Erickson established a settlement in 1,021 A.D. in Newfoundland.  The Viking’s struggled with the harsh climate before war with the Native Americans, who pushed them back to Greenland.  These stories were long dismissed as myths until 1960 when archaeologists dug up the remains of Viking settlements in Newfoundland.

Christopher Columbus was hailed as the man who discovered America.  He died in 1506 – still incorrectly believing that he had found a new way to Asia.  Another explorer, Amerigo Vespucci, said that Columbus had landed on a different continent that was completely separate from Asia.  Historians agree that this was the main reason this new land was not named for Columbus, but it was named for Vespucci – America.

In conclusion, many persons still ask “Did Christopher Columbus discover America?”  It appears that Erickson had him beat.  The Italians (Columbus) accomplished something that the Vikings (Erickson) could not.  They opened a pathway from the Old World to the New Conquest and colonization who were quick to follow the 1492 discovery of America, with life on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean changed forever.

So, the long-time memoizable  chant can be changed to “In 992, Leif Erickson sailed the ocean blue.”