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You are here: Home / History / Where was the first European colony in North America and when?

Where was the first European colony in North America and when?

July 7, 2020 by Karen Hill

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.

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Filed Under: History

About Karen Hill

Karen Hill is a freelance writer, editor, and columnist. Born in New York, her work has appeared in the Examiner, Yahoo News, Buzzfeed, among others.

Previous Post: « Who was the very first English person to be born in the New World?
Next Post: How many natives were in the Americas before the Europeans arrived? »

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