Who found America?

"Leif Eriksson Statue by Anne Whitney, erected in 1887 at the west end of the Commonwealth Avenue Mall in Boston, Massachusetts, the United States" Wikipedia

In SciTech Daily was an article highlighting. "Ancient Documents Suggest Italian Sailors Knew of America 150 Years Before Christopher Columbus" So where those Italian sailors got those documents? 

So who found America?

How Leif Erikson knew that return to home was safe when he lived in Vinland?

Who found America? That is an interesting question. Maybe we should ask how we describe the founded of America?  The thing is that the Son of Eric the Red, Leif Erikson (c. 970-c. 1020) was the man whose statue is in Boston was the first European in America. 

He lived a year in Newfoundland. But there is the possibility that his father Eric the Red (c. 950-1003) visited Newfoundland before his son. Eric the Red made settlements in Greenland and there was no long journey to Newfoundland. But the reason why Eric the Red hired that place was that his son must escape his enemies. So maybe the advice about the place of Newfoundland came to Leif Erikson from Eric the Red. The thing that Leif Erikson returned to Iceland or Greenland a year after the escape. 

Makes people suspect that somebody told them that the controversy agreed. So there must be some connection between Leif Erikson's settlement and his home. Or how that man knew that return was safe? The fact is that we just believe that the Vinland is Newfoundland. The evidence of that thing has been introduced the Viking house that is found in that place. But was it made by Leif Erikson? Or somebody before him.

But there are suggestions that even the ancient Egyptians and Phoenicians knew America. The Chinese and Siberians may be traveled to America over the Bering Strait. And the fact is that there might be other more or less deliberate visits to the American coast and Antillian archipelago. 

Image II: Recreated Norse buildings c. 1000 A.D at L'Anse aux Meadows, Newfoundland (Wikipedia)

The German pirate Klaus Störtebecker (1360-1401) was also claimed to visit America but there was no evidence about that visit. The thing that supports this theory is that the Störtebeckers treasury is lost forever. There is the tale that Cristopher Columbus (1451-1506) was the descendant of Klaus Störtebecker and he followed the tale or some documents that Störtebecker. For supporting that theory is introduced the blond hair of Columbus. 

Columbus was born 50 years after the death of Störtebecker and that thing means that he could be a descendant of that pirate. Maybe he heard stories of that man and then realize that nobody remember Störtebecker. What confessed the funders that there was more than just some trees and mud in the new land? Were some documents were the thing that made funders confess that the funding that exploration was necessary. Somebody people are saying that Prince Henry the Navigator (1394-1460) gave that money. But that well-known funder of some explorations died when Columbus was about 10 years old. 

If we want to describe who founded America we are facing a very difficult thing. In the time of Vikings and great explorations was no GPS and only skippers knew how to navigate. Maps were limited. And if the ship slip out of the map the captain would not tell that thing to the crew. Also if some pirates wanted to hide their treasury at some cost they might not know where they were. If we want to think about the relationship between Störtebecker and Cristopher Columbus we cannot ever be sure.  

Or maybe we should use the DNA test for making sure about that kind of story. Of course, if Störtebecker visited New Land and made some documents. There is the possibility that the Italian traders bought them from Hansa. The fact is that anyway, Störtebecker was not found America. That thing was made long before he was ever born. But were those European explorers Vikings or somebody long before them? Did somebody escape from Europe to that mysterious land? If that person exists there is the possibility that also ancient Romans or Phoenicians knew that area. 

https://scitechdaily.com/ancient-documents-suggest-italian-sailors-knew-of-america-150-years-before-christopher-columbus/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Columbus

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erik_the_Red

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klaus_St%C3%B6rtebeker

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%27Anse_aux_Meadows

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leif_Erikson

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newfoundland_(island)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_Henry_the_Navigator

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vinland

Image I:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leif_Erikson

Image II:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%27Anse_aux_Meadows

Vikings and their way of life.

Church at city of Vassal, Finland

Kimmo Huosionmaa

Vikings were very tough and good soldiers, who were robbed half of Europe. The equipment of the Viking soldier was not so good, that they would not think of the gods, but they were very good weapon users, and that was the reason, why they had so terrible reputation. The Vikings lived in the northern area far away from other Europeans, and that was the reason, why those men were so good targets for prosecutions. And in some cases, the jewelry of monastery have been stolen monks by themselves.


But of course, Vikings robbed many cities and villages. Their methodology was always same. When those Vikings first time came, they offered trade products for the people of the city, and if they seemed like wealthy persons, they would come back with weapons. But Vikings worked also security missions for other kings, and they were known as good weapon handlers. That kind of specialists was very wanted for a military trainer, and Vikings were hired even by the emperor of Byzanthe.


Also, they worked as mercenaries, who attacked against other states by gift. Those mercenaries were used same missions as "Dirlewanger"-units were used in Nazi Germany 1940's. The Vikings might sometimes hire even by the Catholic church and their mission was to terrorize some area, and then the church took their knights in place, and they were told to the people, that by changing their religion to Christianity, the knights would protect their religious brothers and sisters. But sometimes the anthropologists have given a question about the weapon handling skills of those "men from the north". Why were those persons personal fighting skills so good? This was a question, what was interested many military leaders in the world.


In 1930's and -40's SS-Reichsführer Heinrich Himmler and German "Ahnenerbe" send many historians and anthropologists to Sweden, Norway, and Finland to find out, what made Vikings so ultimate soldiers. If that was because of the food, the German military would begin to eat the same food immediately. One explanation for the ultimate courage of those fighters was, of course, the mushroom, what is known as "the toadstool". This mushroom causes hallucinations, that Vikings were able to fight, without the feeling of pain. But this was only one explanation for their fighting success. The courage is the little bit different than skills for weapon handling. And this thing is what fascinated those persons.


If they would get own Viking-soldiers, they could have ultimate military personnel under their command. When we are talking about the muscles of Viking, I must say that they are not very weak. And if we think about the video, what is made for the song "Herr Mannelig", we must say that the woman must have very strong hands, if she wants to strangle the Viking soldier. Or she might use drugs, what was probably given by some other person little bit earlier, for stunning the soldier. But this is only the comment for that video, what is seen on YouTube. The Christianity ended the Viking era even in the northern land, but their reputation still lives in many stories and myths, like the song "Herr Mannelig".  Link to that video is under the text.

Sources

Writings of Vikings

"Herr Mannelig"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cy44ocuoWhE


https://sites.google.com/view/vikingngsandtheirwayoflife/etusivu


https://crisisofdemocracticstates.blogspot.fi/


http://crisisofdemocracticstates.blogspot.fi/p/vikings-and-their-way-of-life.html