Posted by Laurence Monkhouse on November 11, 2004 at 18:40:37 from 62.255.64.6 user Laurence_.
In Reply to: Re: Nauticalia posted by Dave Thewlis on November 11, 2004 at 16:07:29:
Whatever he did discover it wasn't America, yet he gets the credit for it.
The first Europeans to get there were the Vikings.
After that the first to reach mainland America was John Cabot in the 'Matthew' out of Bristol. At least he was the first to talk about it - there is a theory that lots of people knew about it, or at least about the fishing grounds, but kept the knowledge as a trade secret.