
Yale putting high-tech tests to its controversial Vinland Map - ascertain
https://news.yale.edu/2018/02/28/yale-putting-high-tech-tests-its-controversial-vinland-map
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m-i-l
Even if the map isn't authentic, to quote the original article "Archeological
discoveries at L’Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland confirm that the Vikings had
settlements in the Americas long before Columbus set sail".

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Joe8Bit
It's always interesting to read about the intense reaction from certain
communities to anything that disparages/challenges Columbus and his
'discovery' of North America.

As a European (and particularly, as a Brit) I tend to look at most of our
'explorers' as violent colonisers, and consequently have complex (but mostly
negative) feelings towards them. It also seems that's the way the public
opinion here is moving (at least in my microcosm).

Is that the same in the US? I understand it may be a little different, in that
Columbus is so tied into the grand mythos of the creation of the US.

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thfuran
Columbus Day is a national holiday in the US.

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msla
It's effectively Italian-American Day.

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poulsbohemian
True. Which is unfortunate because I'd like to think there are/were plenty of
Italians and Italian-Americans more worthy of recognition. Dude never got to
the mainland of the United States, sailed centuries before there was a United
States, and didn't even sail for Italy.

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thecosas
Glancing through
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Italian_Americans](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Italian_Americans)
and I found this Federico Faggin, widely known for designing the first
commercial microprocessor.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federico_Faggin](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federico_Faggin)

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of
The wikipedia page has a nice hi-res version of the Vinland map:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vinland_map](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vinland_map)

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sys_64738
Saint Brendan of Clonfert discovered America. The rest arrived after the fact.

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Triesault
"Although the Irish had reached and even established a religious community in
Iceland before A.D. 800, there is nothing to connect Brendan with this
venture. Nor is there any reliable evidence to show that either Brendan or any
of his countrymen had ever reached Greenland or America."

Source:
[http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/brendan_saint_1E.html](http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/brendan_saint_1E.html)

