en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Year_1000:_When_Explorers_Connected_the_World%E2%80%94...
1 correction found
the Norse landing on Newfoundland brought the Americas into contact with Europe, Asia, and Africa for the first time.
This overstates Newfoundland as the first contact between Europe and the Americas. Greenland is part of North America, and Norse settlers had already established permanent settlements there by 985–986 CE.
Full reasoning
This sentence is incorrect if "the Americas" is being used in its normal geographic sense.
Greenland is part of North America. National Geographic's overview of North America explicitly says that the continent "includes the enormous island of Greenland in the northeast." Independent historical sources then date the start of the continuous Norse settlement of Greenland to 985–986 CE:
- History says "A continuous Viking presence on Greenland first dates to around A.D. 985."
- Biography.com says Erik the Red returned with colonists and established settlements in 985.
That means contact between Europe and part of the Americas had already occurred in Greenland roughly 15 years before the better-known Norse landing in Newfoundland around the year 1000. So Newfoundland was not the first time the Americas came into contact with Europe.
This correction does not dispute the book's broader globalization thesis; it only addresses the specific wording that Newfoundland was the first such contact.
3 sources
- North America: Physical Geography
The continent includes the enormous island of Greenland in the northeast.
- Why Did the Vikings Disappear From Greenland?
A continuous Viking presence on Greenland first dates to around A.D. 985, when, according to the medieval Icelandic sagas, Erik the Red landed there at the head of a large fleet.
- Erik the Red - Family, Death & Facts
In 985, Erik the Red's exile sentence had expired and he returned to Iceland... 14 arrived, and soon the pilgrims established two colonies, the Eastern Settlement and the Western Settlement.