Page:History of the United States of America, Spencer, v1.djvu/25

 HISTORY

1492—1609.

is not unlikely that the Western Continent had been visited by some chance adventurers before the period when it was made known to Europe by. The researches of modern days into American antiquities seem to have established, with tolerable certainty, the fact, that about the year of our Lord 1000, some of those daring navigators known as the "," did accidentally discover a part of the Continent of America, which they named "Vinland;" and it may be that repeated voyages were made, and even colonies planted in the new world. But this discovery, and the many or few visits which were made to the region "Vinland," produced no impression upon the old world, and ere long everything connected with the Northmen and their voyages was buried in oblivion; moreover, as Mr. Wheaton justly observes, "there is not the slightest reason to believe that the illustrious Genoese was acquainted with the Discovery of North America by the Normans five centuries before his time, however well authenticated that fact now appears to be by the Icelandic records to which we have referred." 