Vikings were the first Europeans to discover North America.

The story behind the answer

True—around 1000 CE, Norse explorers led by Leif Erikson sailed from Greenland and reached a land they called Vinland, likely parts of today’s Newfoundland and Labrador. Archaeological remains at L’Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland, dated to about 1000 CE, confirm a Norse settlement, placing Europeans in North America nearly 500 years before Columbus.

The voyages were recorded in Icelandic sagas (The Saga of the Greenlanders and The Saga of Erik the Red). Remember: Indigenous peoples had lived in the Americas for thousands of years; the “first” here refers specifically to Europeans. Memory tip: “Leif leads, Columbus follows”—Erikson’s expedition came first, around the year 1000, when autumn leaves (“Leif”) fall.