'The ancient New York City of Canada': Archaeologists unearth 'cosmopolitan' 1500s settlement ......

[harmonicon]

7. Did vikings trade with native Americans?

I know that they came to North America, but that's about it.

Mark Kurlansky suggests (not that he was the first) that Basque fisherman had been in North America for at least decades, if not longer, by the 16th century. Apparently, Basques were seen sailing west of Iceland and would return to Europe with loads of cod, and there was a native/Basque patois being spoken on the Atlantic coast when Hudson and his ilk came to the area.

I think the entire idea of "discovery" goes along with the concept of the nation-state. It must seem less formal or something to just say things like, "people have been going places and interacting with other people forever" than to say, "Spain financed a mission which discovered the Americas."