By the time Christopher Columbus landed in the Western Hemisphere in 1492, the New World had already been “discovered” more than once. First, of course, there were the Native Americans we discussed in the previous chapter. But there is solid evidence that other Europeans made it to the Americas long before Columbus did. Around A.D. 1000, Viking Norsemen led by Leif Ericson sailed from Norway across the Atlantic Ocean and settled in Newfoundland, in northeast Canada. These Vikings also explored some distance up and down the coast. This settlement, however, was short-lived. The Norsemen soon sailed back across the ocean, having had little to no effect on North America.