Who was the first explorer to explore the new world?

Answer 1

The first explorer to see the New World depends on what part of the New World you are talking about. Taking into consideration pre-Columbian voyages across the Atlantic, it is certain that Vikings explored the coasts of Labrador and Newfoundland (and settled Greenland) 600-700 years or more before the Santa Maria, Nina, and Pinta set sail , and may have probed as far south as Naragansett Bay in New England. There are further legends of Chinese arriving 1000 years ahead of Columbus Day on the West Coast, St Brendan in the 6th century, a Welsh prince named Madoc in about 1200, Templar Knights in the 1300s, and...Phoenicians (yes, of the rowing galleys) as far back as 500-1000 years BC. Columbus discovered most of the Caribbean islands (he was actually seeking a short route to China from Spain) and the north coast of South America, near the mouth of the Orinoco River in Venezuela on four voyages ranging from 1492 to 1504. John Cabot is officially credited with "discovering" Newfoundland in 1496 (although it is believed that he knew it was there because English and Basque fishermen were already using the island as a seasonal fishing station and just not talking about it). Juan Ponce de Leon first sighted Atlantic Florida in 1513 and coasted into the Gulf of Mexico in 1521, 4 years after Spanish sailors encountered the Yucatan Peninsula. The mid-Atlantic US was discovered and explored north to Nova Scotia by Giovanni Verazzano (sailing for France) in 1524, after which he made two expeditions down the South American coast as far as Uruguay, and Jacques Cartier explored up the St Lawrence River in 1534-35.

The fact of the matter is that the very first "discoverers" and explorers of the Americas came from Asia by way of the Bering Strait as long ago as 15-20,000 years ago or more. They may have used boats and coasted along ice sheets in the Bering Strait, or later walked across a later land bridge (about 13,000 years ago) - the ancestors of the Native Americans, peopling North and South America from teh Arctic coast to the Tierra del Fuego. Now that's what I call exploring. And making a New World.

For those who prefer their history uncomplicated, Columbus discovered the New World in the strictest sense of the word: from the Latin "to make known." After Columbus landed on a Bahamian island on that October day in 1492, everything changed - for Europeans, for Native Americans, for Africans, for Asians. It was in fact, a New World he stumbled upon.

Answer 2

The first explorer to see the New World depends on what part of the New World you are talking about. Taking into consideration pre-Columbian voyages across the Atlantic, it is certain that Vikings explored the coasts of Labrador and Newfoundland (and settled Greenland) 600-700 years or more before the Santa Maria, Nina, and Pinta set sail , and may have probed as far south as Naragansett Bay in New England. There are further legends of Chinese arriving 1000 years ahead of Columbus Day on the West Coast, St Brendan in the 6th century, a Welsh prince named Madoc in about 1200, Templar Knights in the 1300s, and...Phoenicians (yes, of the rowing galleys) as far back as 500-1000 years BC. Columbus discovered most of the Caribbean islands (he was actually seeking a short route to China from Spain) and the north coast of South America, near the mouth of the Orinoco River in Venezuela on four voyages ranging from 1492 to 1504. John Cabot is officially credited with "discovering" Newfoundland in 1496 (although it is believed that he knew it was there because English and Basque fishermen were already using the island as a seasonal fishing station and just not talking about it). Juan Ponce de Leon first sighted Atlantic Florida in 1513 and coasted into the Gulf of Mexico in 1521, 4 years after Spanish sailors encountered the Yucatan Peninsula. The mid-Atlantic US was discovered and explored north to Nova Scotia by Giovanni Verazzano (sailing for France) in 1524, after which he made two expeditions down the South American coast as far as Uruguay, and Jacques Cartier explored up the St Lawrence River in 1534-35.

The fact of the matter is that the very first "discoverers" and explorers of the Americas came from Asia by way of the Bering Strait as long ago as 15-20,000 years ago or more. They may have used boats and coasted along ice sheets in the Bering Strait, or later walked across a later land bridge (about 13,000 years ago) - the ancestors of the Native Americans, peopling North and South America from teh Arctic coast to the Tierra del Fuego. Now that's what I call exploring. And making a New World.

For those who prefer their history uncomplicated, Columbus discovered the New World in the strictest sense of the word: from the Latin "to make known." After Columbus landed on a Bahamian island on that October day in 1492, everything changed - for Europeans, for Native Americans, for Africans, for Asians. It was in fact, a New World he stumbled upon.

Answer 3

Viking Leif erik