"Leif Erikson Day Leif Erikson Day is an annual observance occurring on October 9. It honors Leif Erikson (Old Norse: ""Leifr Eiríksson"", , ), the Norse explorer who led the first Europeans thought to have set foot in continental North America (other than Greenland). The 1874 book ""America Not Discovered by Columbus"" by Norwegian-American Rasmus B. Anderson helped popularize the idea that Vikings were the first Europeans in the New World, an idea that was all but verified in 1960. During his appearance at the Norse-American Centennial at the Minnesota State Fair in 1925, President Calvin Coolidge gave recognition to"
"set out to retrace Bjarni's journey. The result is thought to be the Viking settlement at L'Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland. This is the first known attempt at settlement by Europeans on the Americas. Bjarni Herjólfsson Bjarni Herjólfsson (fl. 10th century) was a Norse-Icelandic explorer who is believed to be the first known European discoverer of the mainland of the Americas, which he sighted in 986. Bjarni was born to Herjólfr son of Bárdi Herjólfsson (Old Norse: ""Bárði""), and Thorgerdr (Old Norse: ""Þorgerðr"") in Iceland. In adulthood, Bjarni became a merchant captain, based in Norway, but visiting his father every"
"Christopher Columbus Christopher Columbus (; before 31 October 145120 May 1506) was an Italian explorer, navigator, and colonist who completed four voyages across the Atlantic Ocean under the auspices of the Catholic Monarchs of Spain. He led the first European expeditions to the Caribbean, Central America, and South America, initiating the permanent European colonization of the Americas. Columbus discovered the viable sailing route to the Americas, a continent which was not then known to the Old World. While what he thought he had discovered was a route to the Far East, he is credited with the opening of the Americas"
"shown differs from other images, including that of the ""Virgin of the Navigators."" Footnotes Citations Bibliography Christopher Columbus Christopher Columbus (; before 31 October 145120 May 1506) was an Italian explorer, navigator, and colonist who completed four voyages across the Atlantic Ocean under the auspices of the Catholic Monarchs of Spain. He led the first European expeditions to the Caribbean, Central America, and South America, initiating the permanent European colonization of the Americas. Columbus discovered the viable sailing route to the Americas, a continent which was not then known to the Old World. While what he thought he had discovered"
"Columbus Day Columbus Day is a national holiday in many countries of the Americas and elsewhere which officially celebrates the anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the Americas on October 12, 1492. Christopher Columbus was an Italian explorer who set sail across the Atlantic Ocean in search of a faster route to the New World. His first voyage to the New World on the Spanish ships the Santa María, Niña"","" and La Pinta took approximately three months. Columbus and his crew's arrival to the New World initiated the Columbian Exchange which introduced the transfer of plants, animals, culture, human populations,"
"Leif Erikson Leif Erikson or Leif Ericson ( 970 – c. 1020) was a Norse explorer from Iceland. He was the first known European to have set foot on continental North America (excluding Greenland), before Christopher Columbus. According to the Sagas of Icelanders, he established a Norse settlement at Vinland, tentatively identified with the Norse L'Anse aux Meadows on the northern tip of Newfoundland in modern-day Canada. Later archaeological evidence suggests that Vinland may have been the areas around the Gulf of St. Lawrence and that the L'Anse aux Meadows site was a ship repair station. Leif was the son"
"Bjarni Herjólfsson Bjarni Herjólfsson (fl. 10th century) was a Norse-Icelandic explorer who is believed to be the first known European discoverer of the mainland of the Americas, which he sighted in 986. Bjarni was born to Herjólfr son of Bárdi Herjólfsson (Old Norse: ""Bárði""), and Thorgerdr (Old Norse: ""Þorgerðr"") in Iceland. In adulthood, Bjarni became a merchant captain, based in Norway, but visiting his father every summer in Iceland. Bjarni is believed to have been the first European to see North America. The ""Grœnlendinga saga"" (""Greenlanders Saga"") tells that one year he sailed to Iceland to visit his parents as"
"was limited in comparison to the extensive trade and conflict of civilizations across the Atlantic in Europe and Asia. Records of European travel to North America begin with the Norse in the tenth century CE. In 985, they founded a settlement on Greenland (an often-overlooked part of North America) that persisted until the early 1400s. They also explored the east coast of Canada, but their settlements there were much smaller and shorter-lived. With the Age of Exploration and the voyages of Christopher Columbus (starting 1492), Europeans began to arrive in the Americas in large numbers and to develop colonial ambitions"
"John Cabot John Cabot (; c. 1450 – c. 1500) was an Italian navigator and explorer, born in the Kingdom of Naples. His 1497 discovery of the coast of North America under the commission of Henry VII of England was the first European exploration of coastal North America since the Norse visits to Vinland in the eleventh century. To mark the celebration of the 500th anniversary of Cabot's expedition, both the Canadian and British governments elected Cape Bonavista, Newfoundland, as representing Cabot's first landing site. However, alternative locations have also been proposed. Cabot is known today as ""Giovanni Caboto"" in"
"Voyages of Christopher Columbus In 1492, a Spanish-based transatlantic maritime expedition led by Italian explorer Christopher Columbus encountered the Americas, continents which were largely unknown in Europe and were outside the Old World political and economic system. The four voyages of Columbus began the Spanish colonization of the Americas. For a long time it was generally believed that Columbus and his crew had been the first Europeans to make landfall in the Americas. In fact they were not the first explorers from Europe to reach the Americas, having been preceded by the Viking expedition led by Leif Erikson in the"
"the second Monday in October. In Brazil, Discovery Day is observed on April 22 each year. This date commemorates the day when Pedro Álvares Cabral became the first European to land in Brazil in 1500 (although this discovery is contested by some). In Yukon, Discovery Day is a public holiday on the third Monday in August commemorating the anniversary of the discovery of gold in 1896, which started the Klondike Gold Rush. In Newfoundland and Labrador, it is observed on the Monday nearest June 24 and commemorates John Cabot's discovery of Newfoundland in 1497. Discovery Day in the Cayman Islands"
"America was discovered and populated by its indigenous population. Columbus was not even the first European to reach its shores, having been preceded by Erik the Red in 10th-century Greenland and Leif Erikson in 11th-century Vinland at L'Anse aux Meadows. However, Columbus's efforts brought the Americas to the attention of Europe at a time ripe for Europe to act upon. Thus, Columbus was able to initiate the enduring association between the Earth's two major landmasses and their inhabitants. ""Columbus's claim to fame isn't that he got there first,"" explains historian Martin Dugard, ""it's that he stayed."" Historians have traditionally argued"
"Exploration of North America The exploration of North America by non-indigenous people was a continuing effort to map and explore the continent of North America. It spanned centuries, and consisted of efforts by numerous people and expeditions from various foreign countries to map the continent. The European colonization of the Americas followed. According to the Sagas of Icelanders, Norse sailors (often called Vikings) from Iceland first settled Greenland in the 980s. Erik the Red explored and settled southwestern Greenland, which he named to entice potential Icelandic settlers, eventually establishing the Eastern and Western Settlements, which were abandoned around 1350. L'Anse"
"Hernando de Soto Hernando de Soto (; ; 1500 – May 21, 1542) was a Spanish explorer and ""conquistador"" who was involved in expeditions in Nicaragua and the Yucatan Peninsula, and played an important role in Pizarro's conquest of the Inca Empire in Peru, but is best known for leading the first Spanish and European expedition deep into the territory of the modern-day United States (through Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and most likely Arkansas). He is the first European documented as having crossed the Mississippi River. De Soto's North American expedition was a vast undertaking. It ranged throughout the southeastern"
"population ultimately made the Norse abandon those settlements. Extensive European colonization began in 1492, when a Spanish expedition headed by Genoese Christopher Columbus sailed west to find a new trade route to the Far East but inadvertently landed in the Americas. European conquest, large-scale exploration, colonization and industrial development soon followed. Columbus's first two voyages (1492–93) reached the Bahamas and various Caribbean islands, including Hispaniola, Puerto Rico and Cuba. In 1497, sailing from Bristol on behalf of England, John Cabot landed on the North American coast, and a year later, Columbus's third voyage reached the South American coast. As the"
"European colonization of the Americas The European colonization of the Americas describes the history of the settlement and establishment of control of the continents of the Americas by most of the naval powers of Western Europe. Systematic European colonization began in 1492, when a Spanish expedition headed by the Italian explorer Christopher Columbus sailed west to find a new trade route to the Far East but inadvertently landed in what came to be known to Europeans as the ""New World"". He ran aground on the northern part of Hispaniola on 5 December 1492, which the Taino people had inhabited since"
"of the Americas by Europeans. Christopher Columbus, the explorer who first reached the Americas in 1492–1504, was Italian. Another notable Italian explorer, Amerigo Vespucci, who explored the east coast of South America between 1499 and 1502, is the source of the name America. England's claims in North America were based on the voyages of the Italian explorer John Cabot (Giovanni Caboto) and his son Sebastian Cabot (Sebastiano Caboto) in the early 16th century. In 1524 the Italian explorer Giovanni da Verrazzano was the first European to map the Atlantic coast of today's United States, and to enter New York Bay."
"expelled from Iceland, while his son, the Icelandic explorer Leif Ericson (980–1020), reached Newfoundland and the nearby North American coast, and is believed to be the first European to land in North America. Polynesians were a maritime people, who populated and explored the central and south Pacific for around 5,000 years, up to about 1280 when they discovered New Zealand. The key invention to their exploration was the outrigger canoe, which provided a swift and stable platform for carrying goods and people. Based on limited evidence, it is thought that the voyage to New Zealand was deliberate. It is unknown"
"by the Norse explorer Leif Ericson. However, the colonization never became permanent and was later abandoned. The voyages of Christopher Columbus from 1492 to 1502 resulted in permanent contact with European (and subsequently, other Old World) powers, which led to the Columbian exchange. Diseases introduced from Europe and West Africa devastated the indigenous peoples, and the European powers colonized the Americas. Mass emigration from Europe, including large numbers of indentured servants, and importation of African slaves largely replaced the indigenous peoples. Decolonization of the Americas began with the American Revolution in the 1770s and largely ended with the Spanish–American War"
"his death of a cerebral hemorrhage on August 5. He was interred at the Chapel of Forest Lawn Cemetery, Buffalo. Frederick Cook Frederick Albert Cook (June 10, 1865 – August 5, 1940) was an American explorer, physician, and ethnographer, noted for his claim of having reached the North Pole on April 21, 1908. This was nearly a year before Robert Peary, who reached the North Pole on April 6, 1909. Both men's accounts were disputed for several years. His expedition did discover Meighen Island, the only discovery of an island in the American Arctic by a United States expedition. In"
"Vasco da Gama Vasco da Gama, 1st Count of Vidigueira (; c. 1460s – 24 December 1524), was a Portuguese explorer and the first European to reach India by sea. His initial voyage to India (1497–1499) was the first to link Europe and Asia by an ocean route, connecting the Atlantic and the Indian oceans and therefore, the West and the Orient. Da Gama's discovery of the sea route to India was significant and opened the way for an age of global imperialism and for the Portuguese to establish a long-lasting colonial empire in Asia. Traveling the ocean route allowed"
"and John Wesley Powell Surveys, and expeditions by Ferdinand Vandeveer Hayden. In 1879, all such efforts were reorganized as the United States Geological Survey. Exploration of North America The exploration of North America by non-indigenous people was a continuing effort to map and explore the continent of North America. It spanned centuries, and consisted of efforts by numerous people and expeditions from various foreign countries to map the continent. The European colonization of the Americas followed. According to the Sagas of Icelanders, Norse sailors (often called Vikings) from Iceland first settled Greenland in the 980s. Erik the Red explored and"
"stamps in the Columbian Exposition issue of 1893. On his return to Spain, Columbus reported his discoveries to the Spanish monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella, who made the Americas widely known in Europe. Leif Erikson the 11th century Norse explorer was honored with a 6-cent stamp on October 9, 1968 — Leif Erikson Day. The stamp was inspired by the statue by American Stirling Calder in Reykjavic, Iceland. Vasco Núñez de Balboa, the Spanish explorer of the Panama Canal region, is honored in the Panama-Pacific Exposition issue. Balboa called the western ocean 'Mar del Sur'. The 1-cent stamp paid the post"
"Queen Isabella I of Castille. Columbus's Letter on the First Voyage of his discovery of the Bahamas, Cuba, and Hispaniola spread the news across Europe quickly. Columbus rediscovered and explored much of the Lesser Antilles in his second voyage then discovered both Trinidad and Tobago on his third voyage whilst skirting the northern South American coast. His fourth voyage was spent scanning the Central American coast. The Voyages of Christopher Columbus opened the New World. Italian navigator and explorer Giovanni Caboto (known in English as John Cabot) is credited with the discovery of continental North America on June 24, 1497,"
"stone from Castello di Verrazzano, the explorer's ancestral home. Notes Giovanni da Verrazzano Giovanni da Verrazzano (, sometimes also incorrectly spelled Verrazano; 1485–1528) was an Italian explorer of North America, in the service of King Francis I of France. He is renowned as the first European to explore the Atlantic coast of North America between Florida and New Brunswick in 1524, including New York Bay and Narragansett Bay. The consensus amongst scholars is that Giovanni da Verrazzano was born in Val di Greve, south of Florence, then the capital and main city of the Republic of Florence, the son of"
"Naming of the Americas The naming of the Americas, or America occurred shortly after Christopher Columbus's voyage to the Americas in 1492. It is generally accepted that the name derives from Amerigo Vespucci, the Italian explorer, who explored the new continents in the following years. However, some have suggested other explanations, including being named after a mountain range in Nicaragua, or after Richard Amerike of Bristol. In modern English, North and South America are generally considered separate continents, and taken together are called ""the Americas"" in the plural, parallel to similar situations such as the Carolinas. When conceived as a"
"the 17th century. Long-term European exploration of the Americas commenced after the 1492 expedition of Christopher Columbus, and the 1497 expedition of John Cabot is credited with discovering continental North America for Europeans. European exploration of the North America continued in the 16th century, and the area now known as Pennsylvania was mapped by the French and labeled ""L'arcadia"", or ""wooded coast"", during Giovanni da Verrazzano's voyage in 1524. Even before large-scale European settlement, the Native American tribes in Pennsylvania engaged in trade with Europeans, and the fur trade was a major motivation for the European colonization of North America."
"those of Christopher Columbus. Alfred E. Hudd proposed a theory in 1908 that the continents are named after a Welsh merchant named Richard Amerike from Bristol, who is believed to have financed John Cabot's voyage of discovery from England to Newfoundland in 1497. A minutely explored belief that has been advanced is that America was named for a Spanish sailor bearing the ancient Visigothic name of 'Amairick'. Another is that the name is rooted in a Native American language. The United Nations formally recognizes ""North America"" as comprising three areas: Northern America, Central America, and The Caribbean. This has been"
"12 October happens to coincide with the day of the year 1492 when land was first sighted on Columbus' First Voyage, the ""Fiesta de la Raza Española"", first proposed in 1913 by Faustino Rodríguez-San Pedro y Díaz-Argüelles (in the USA later dubbed ""Columbus Day"", as Columbus tends to be considered Italian rather than Spanish in North America) falls on the same date. The ""Fiesta de la Raza Española"" was declared the national holiday of Spain in a decree by Antonio Maura and king Alfonso XIII of 1918. The alternative name ""Día de la Hispanidad"" was proposed in the late 1920s"
"Empire, all factors which eroded the traditional Italian dominance in trade with the East, caused a long economic decline in the peninsula. Italian explorers and navigators from the dominant maritime republics played a key role in ushering the Age of Discovery and the European colonization of the Americas. The most notable among them were: Christopher Columbus, who led led the first European expeditions to the Caribbean and Central and South America, and he is credited with discovering the New World and the opening of the Americas for conquest and settlement by Europeans; John Cabot, the first European to explore parts"
"Frederick Cook Frederick Albert Cook (June 10, 1865 – August 5, 1940) was an American explorer, physician, and ethnographer, noted for his claim of having reached the North Pole on April 21, 1908. This was nearly a year before Robert Peary, who reached the North Pole on April 6, 1909. Both men's accounts were disputed for several years. His expedition did discover Meighen Island, the only discovery of an island in the American Arctic by a United States expedition. In December 1909, after reviewing Cook's limited records, a commission of the University of Copenhagen ruled his claim unproven. In 1911,"
"11th century; however, Columbus's voyages were the ones that led to ongoing European contact with the Americas, inaugurating a period of exploration, conquest, and colonization whose effects and consequences persist to the present. Columbus was an Italian-born navigator sailing for the Crown of Castile in search of a westward route to Asia, to access the sources of spices and other oriental goods. This led instead to a discovery of the New World between Europe and Asia. Columbus made a total of four voyages to the Americas between 1492 and 1502, setting the stage for the European exploration and colonization of"
"commemorates the discovery of the Sister Islands of Cayman Brac and Little Cayman by Christopher Columbus in 1503. The public holiday is celebrated on the third Monday in May. Colombia celebrates October 12 as ""Discovery Day"", coinciding with the Columbus Day celebrations of many other countries in the New World. March 6 marks the day in 1521 that Magellan's expedition dropped anchor in Umatac Bay. December 5, the date in 1492 when Christopher Columbus landed on the island of Hispaniola in what is now Môle-Saint-Nicolas, Haiti, is called Discovery Day. Today the island is shared by two countries: Haiti and"