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Article: Exploration of America, Early
- Article from:
- Dictionary of American History
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EXPLORATION OF AMERICA, EARLY
Early Developments
For centuries there were claims suggesting that the earliest voyages of exploration to North America were made by Irish monks (St. Brendan), Welshmen (Prince Madoc) and others, but these have never been supported by credible evidence. Late tenth-century Norsemen (Vikings) sailing west from Scandinavia and Iceland colonized the west coast of Greenland, and then in about 1001 moved on to Baffin Island, southern Labrador, and finally the northern tip of Newfoundland. There, at a site now known as L'Anse aux Meadows, they made an abortive effort to establish a colony which they called Vinland. Several attempts to stabilize the infant ...