Who beat Columbus to America?

The Vikings reached North America before Columbus

Though the idea that Christopher Columbus discovered America has long been taken as fact, the famous explorer did no such thing.

Not only were Indigenous people already living in North America, but the Vikings reached the continent long before Columbus did. Led by Leif Erikson, a group of Norse explorers arrived on these shores in 1021, nearly 500 years beforeColumbus’ 1492 journey. The two expeditions do have one thing in common, however: Erikson probably wasn’t looking for America either.

There are two main accounts of the Norse journey to North America. The Saga of Erik the Red (Erikson’s father) suggests the explorer made his way across the Atlantic by accident en route from Norway to Greenland. The Saga of the Greenlanders, meanwhile, claims it was indeed intentional. Having heard about the strange new land from Bjarni Herjólfsson, an Icelandic trader who had seen North America but not set foot on it after overshooting Greenland on a journey of his own a decade earlier, Erikson was inspired to make the voyage himself. Upon his successful arrival in present-day Canada, he named it “Helluland” — Old Norse for “Stone Slab Land.” It’s believed that this was Baffin Island, which certainly fits the description.

Did you know? The word “Viking” means “pirate raid.”

If you’ve ever thought that the word “Viking” sounds like a verb, you might be onto something. Though the origins are disputed, the word likely comes from the Old Norse “vīk,” referring to a bay or inlet. (Anyone who’s been to Iceland will recognize the root word, as the country of fire and ice’s capital is Reykjavík and its southernmost village is simply Vík.) This evolved into “viking,” which roughly translates to “pirate raid.” Not all Vikings were pirates — many were humble farmers who may well have resented their people’s reputation for pillaging villages — but those who did engage in the pastime were said to be “going a-viking.”