Norse in North America
Vikings reach America nearly 500 years before Columbus
Around 1000, Norse seafarers led by Leif Erikson reached North America, which they called Vinland. Tree-ring analysis of wood from L'Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland proves Norse presence there in 1021, nearly 500 years before Columbus.
Wikipedia (Russian) · Wikipedia (English) · 11th century
Did you know
Thirty-three years after the Christianization of Rus', Vikings were cutting wood in Newfoundland — tree rings date it precisely to 1021.
Meanwhile around the world (±25 years)
Europe
- c. 1000 Stephen I, first king of Hungary — 21 years earlier
Eastern Europe & Russia
- c. 1037 Saint Sophia Cathedral in Kiev — 16 years later
Middle East
- 1025 Avicenna's Canon of Medicine — 4 years later
Africa
- c. 1000 Extinction of the elephant birds — 21 years earlier
- 1006 Supernova SN 1006 — 15 years earlier
Asia
- c. 1010 The Tale of Genji — 11 years earlier
- 1044 First gunpowder formulas in the Wujing Zongyao — 23 years later
Alive at the time
- Avicenna (Ibn Sina) (aged 41)
- Yaroslav the Wise (aged 43)
- Cnut the Great (aged 26)
- Edward the Confessor (aged 18)
- Sei Shōnagon (aged 55)
- Robert II the Pious (aged 49)
- Al-Biruni (aged 48)
- Henry II (aged 48)
- Conrad II (aged 31)
- Henry I (aged 13)