First Americans 'reached Europe five centuries before Columbus discoveries'

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The Guardian said:
Scientists claim first Americans arrived long before Columbus bumped into an island in the Bahamas in 1492.

When Christopher Columbus paraded his newly discovered American Indians through the streets of Spanish towns at the end of the 15th century, he was not in fact introducing the first native Americans to Europe, according to new research.

Scientists who have studied the genetic past of an Icelandic family now claim the first Americans reached Europe a full five centuries before Columbus bumped into an island in the Bahamas during his first voyage of discovery in 1492.

Researchers said today that a woman from the Americas probably arrived in Iceland 1,000 years ago, leaving behind genes that are reflected in about 80 Icelanders today.

The link was first detected among inhabitants of Iceland, home to one of the most thorough gene-mapping programs in the world, several years ago.

Initial suggestions that the genes may have arrived via Asia were ruled out after samples showed they had been in Iceland since the early 18th century, before Asian genes began appearing among Icelanders.

Investigators discovered the genes could be traced to common ancestors in the south of Iceland, near the Vatnajˆkull glacier, in around 1710.
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http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2010/nov/16/first-americans-europe-research

Interesting!
 
Yeah, Leif Ericson got as far as Newfoundland in 1001 AD. Christopher Columbus got the credit because he opened up America to Europe. Interestingly, Columbus didn't even know he had discovered anything. He thought he was in Asia. In 1501, Amerigo Vespucci sailed to the southern tip of South America, Tierra del Fuego. He realized that he had discovered a new continent. America is named after him.

The Vikings beat Columbus but there were people in America before the Vikings of course. The Clovis people discovered Alaska about 11,500 years ago. They may have been the first. Although that belief has been challenged in recent years.
 
Very cool!

My high school student body is 98% descendants of Mexico. Some can trace their lineage to pre-USA times. Columbus Day is usually a chance to have some pretty interesting conversations, usually ending in everyone agreeing that it's, um, not the best candidate for a holiday.
 
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