Who Discovered America?

Until a few years ago it was almost universally acknowledged that America was discovered by Christopher Columbus, the British explorer. The discovery was recorded as being in 1492.
However, it is likely that the journey he made was the first documented description of America and others had actually been there before.
It is thought that a Chinese explorer actually reached America in 1421.
Some people believe that the Vikings reached America. It is suggested that Bjarni Herjolfsson landed in America in 985 or 986 when he was actually en route to Greenland.
Leif Erikson, also a Viking, is said to have reached America in the 11th Century.
The Welsh also claim that a Welsh Prince called Madoc discovered America in 1170.
The main difficulty in either accepting or disproving any of these claims is the lack of written evidence. The Viking culture in particular was an oral culture. That means that information in the form of stories were passed down from one generation to another, with no written records as back up. Hence why Christopher Columbus is still credited with the first recorded trip to America.

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