Discovery of the Americas

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The discovery of the Americas is variously attributed to the following people, depending on context and definition:

• Indigenous peoples of the Americas, who are the first people to live in the Americas (see Paleo-Indians, Clovis Culture, Models of migration to the New World, Solutrean hypothesis).
• Vikings (see Norse colonization of the Americas, L'Anse aux Meadows, Vinland); specifically:
  • Gunnbjörn Ulfsson, who first sighted islands off Greenland, probably in the early 900s.
  • Bjarni Herjólfsson, who sighted mainland North America (Labrador, Canada) around 986.
  • Leif Eriksson, who landed in North America (Newfoundland, Canada) around the year 1000.
• Various unproven voyagers before Columbus (see Pre-Columbian trans-oceanic contact).
• Christopher Columbus (sailor Rodrigo de Triana was the first onboard), whose famous first voyage in 1492 had dramatic consequences for both the New World and the Old.
• Other European explorers during the "Age of Discovery" (see European colonization of the Americas).

[edit] See also

• History of the Americas

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