Ep. 4 Vikings: How Norsemen Beat Columbus to the "New World" by 500 Years
- Author
- Shea LaFountaine
- Published
- Sun 02 Apr 2023
- Episode Link
- None
In 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue. I’m sure you’re familiar with the singsong mnemonic meant for remembering the year Christopher Columbus stumbled upon islands in the Caribbean. This set off a chain reaction of European exploration that transformed two continents. But did you know Viking explorers actually reached North America 500 years before Columbus? Let’s fix that.
Sources:
- https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277379118307261
- https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/footprint-study-is-best-evidence-yet-that-humans-lived-in-ice-age-north-america-180978757/
- https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-vikings-a-memorable-visit-to-america-98090935/#:~:text=But%20more%20and%20more%20scholars,too%20cold%20even%20for%20Vikings.
- https://www.history.co.uk/articles/harald-hardrada-the-last-viking
- https://www.express.co.uk/news/royal/1497931/Queen-Elizabeth-Family-tree-related-to-William-the-Conqueror-evg
- https://www.history.com/news/10-things-you-may-not-know-about-william-the-conqueror
- https://scandinaviafacts.com/why-dont-the-vikings-get-credit-for-discovering-america-2/
- https://www.britannica.com/story/did-the-vikings-discover-america
- https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2013/10/14/232120128/how-columbus-sailed-into-u-s-history-thanks-to-italians
- https://www.history.com/news/6-things-we-owe-to-the-vikings
- A "Short History of" podcast episode about Vikings
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