• 1rre@discuss.tchncs.de
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      1 year ago

      Knew is a strong word

      The norse found it but 500 years is a crazy long time, and they didn’t know it wasn’t just a series of arctic islands

      • The Assman@sh.itjust.works
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        1 year ago

        I think it’s reasonable to say they knew. They probably didn’t realize how enormous the Americas were. But it was certainly known that some landmass existed west of Greenland. The Norse settled Greenland around year 1000 and allegedly founded colonies in Newfoundland around that time.

    • AA5B@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Norse may have been there, but there was no lasting impact. No permanent settlement, no trade, no records other than logs/journals, no memory, no further exploration …. Compare that with the impact of Columbus’ voyage

      We actually don’t know how much the Norse may have explored: we have very few records and I believe only one settlement for a couple years.

      I find this idea fascinating - they could have ….

      https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/norumbega-tower