That first documented European colony in America would have to be the Viking colony, dating from about 1000 A.D. in what is now northern Newfoundland.
Excavations at a location called L’Anse aux Meadows bear artifacts from Greenland at around this time period, and ancient manuscripts from Greenland speak of a country full of grapevines that the Vikings, under the leadership of Erik the Red’s son, Leif Eriksson, named Vinland.
Other excavations farther north and south hint that the Vikings may have explored the eastern coast of the American continent in great depth.
Historians guess that the natives and weather conditions may have cut short the first European colonies in the new world.
