Discoverer of the Americas
The role of
discoverer of the Americas is variously attributed to the following people, depending on context and definition:
*
Native Americans, the first people to live in America (see
Paleo-Indians,
Clovis Culture,
Models of migration to the New World,
Pre-Siberian American Aborigines);
*
Viking explorer
Leif Ericson. The Vikings were the first Europeans proven to have landed in America (see
Vinland);
* Indians, Vikings and various unproven voyagers like Saint
Brendan,
Zheng He, Prince
Madoc, and many others (see
Pre-Columbian trans-oceanic contact);
*
Christopher Columbus, the first proven
Old Worlder since the Vikings;
* other European explorers during the "
Age of Exploration" (see
European colonization of the Americas).
