AMERICA - PRE-COLUMBIAN DISCOVERIES Alleged discoveries of the continent or islands of America by Europeans before Columbus lack foundation, with the exception of those made by the Norsemen. Because of the geographical conditions it was natural that they should be the first to discover territory in the western hemisphere. They advanced step by step towards west and north-west. First they accidentally discovered the Faroes, then Iceland, and finally, early in the loth century, Gunn bjorn Ulfsson probably sighted the snow-clad mountains of Green land, when he landed on some desert islands which afterwards were called Gunnbjorn Skerries, and which presumably were identical with some of the islands off Angmagsalik on the east coast. This discovery was not followed up until Eric the Red, who had first been exiled from Norway and thereafter from Iceland, decided to seek those islands in 982 and to ascertain if they were habitable. Thus he discovered the mainland of Greenland, the south-western part of which he explored during the next three years ; he there after returned to Iceland and succeeded in persuading a number of people to go with him to Greenland, and to establish there a colony on the model of the Icelandic commonwealth.
From this colony further discoveries were made not only along the west coast of Greenland but also on the American continent. These were in the beginning accidental, and a fairly full account of them has been preserved in Icelandic tradition, which has two somewhat different versions of them. The older of the two, the Saga of Eric the Red, ascribes the discovery of the continent to Leif Ericson (q.v.) ; the younger, called the Tale of the Green landers (found in the Flatey Book) makes Bjarni Herjolf sson the first discoverer. The Saga is doubtless much more reliable although the Tale probably preserved a few touches which the Saga left out. The accidental discovery of Leif in the year I 000 was followed up the next year by his brother, Thorstein Ericson, who, however, failed to reach the new lands. Two years later the Icelander, Thorfinn Karlsefni (q.v.), went with three ships from Greenland in search of Vinland with the intention of settling there. His expedition lasted three years (Ioo3–o6), at the end of which time he returned to Greenland, realizing that a colony could not be maintained there because of the hostile aborigines.
Probably in 1007, Karlsefni returned to Iceland, where the story of his exploits was finally written down. The various place-names mentioned in this are impossible of definite identification with localities on the American continent, since no genuine Scandi navian remains of those times have been found there. There seems, however, little doubt that Helluland (Flagstoneland) is Labrador; while Markland (Woodland), the next land south of this, has often been looked upon as identical with Nova Scotia or New foundland, but it might as well be sought on the south coast of Labrador, where almost certainly Furdustrandir (Wonderstrands) are to be found. As Prof. Steensby has pointed out, no place on the east coast of America tallies so well with the description of those desolate strands as the low coast west of Cape Whittle. In such case Straumfiord, where Karlsefni wintered twice, has prob ably to be looked for within the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and Chaleur bay is possibly identical with it. Vinland (q.v.) must, however, be sought somewhere on the coast of New England.
After Karlsefni's expedition Icelandic sources mention only two sailings towards those lands from Greenland; the first of these was in II 2 1, when Bishop Eric of Greenland left for Vinland, probably as a missionary, but he was never heard of again. In 1347 there arrived in Iceland a ship of Greenland which had been to Markland for timber, but had been driven out of its course. This may indi cate that such trips were made now and then from Greenland, although only this one is on record. The Greenland colony prob ably existed until the 15th century, but at that time its connections with those lands discovered in the west as well as with the mother country had ceased. Although Columbus doubtless visited Iceland some years before his discovery of America, there is no reason to believe that he heard of these early Norse discoveries, or that they in any way influenced him.
Recently an attempt has been made by Dr. Sophus Larsen to show that a combined Danish-Portuguese expedition under Didrik Pining and Pothorst reached the coast of Labrador or Newfound land shortly after 1472, thus substantiating the alleged discover ies in those regions by the elder Corte Real. The evidence pre sented in support of this is partly indirect and hence dubious, and partly drawn from late sources which are not authoritative. For the bibliography of this subject see H. Hermannsson, North men in America 982–c. z5oo (Ithaca, N.Y., 19o9) . In addition to the titles given under LEIF ERICSON the following may be mentioned: F. Nansen, In Northern Mists (191 I) ; W. H. Babcock, Early Norse Visits to America (1913) ; W. Hovgaard, The Voyages of the Norse men to America (1914) ; H. P. Steensby, The Norsemen's Route from Greenland to Wineland (Copenhagen, 1918) ; H. Hermannsson in Geo graph. Review, 1927, p. Io7 et seq.; G. M. Gathorne-Hardy, The Norse Discovery of America (1921) ; S. Larsen, The Discovery of North America Twenty Years before Columbus (Copenhagen, 1924) .
(H. HE.)