IN THE DISCOVERY OF AMERICA. 59 



The Romans, through JuHus Caesar's conquest of Britain, made 

 a step forward by clearing up the geography of the British Isles. 

 After their departure, when Britain proper went into anarchy, for 

 several centuries Ireland remained in a decidedly advanced state 

 of culture. Ireland also is the most westerly outpost of Europe. 

 These two factors combined lend authority to the statement in one 

 of the Norsk Sagas that when the Vikings first reached Iceland in 

 the ninth century A.D. they found some Irishmen settled there. 

 The importance of this is obvious. Iceland is much nearer to 

 America than it is to Europe. From a navigator's point of view it 

 is an American island. Any people who reached Iceland was bound 

 sooner or later to reach America. And effectively in another of the 

 Norsk Sagas, there is a mention of a Great Ireland far in the west, 

 which may refer to Greenland. But while it is impossible to say 

 exactly what the Irish did do or where they got to, it is nevertheless 

 unquestionable that they forged an important link in the evolution 

 of the discovery of America. Indeed their discovery of Iceland 

 seems to warrant considering them the first European discoverers 

 of an American land. 



The Norsemen or Vikings it was who first made recorded ex- 

 plorations beyond Iceland, which they reached by the ninth century 

 A.D., and where they settled, lived and quarrelled. They left semi- 

 historic and semi-poetic narratives, the Sagas, of some of their 

 doings and from these we can glean a good deal about their ex- 

 plorations which if not historically accurate, is at least too accurate 

 not to be based on actual facts. It was some time before the year 

 looo A.D. that one of the Vikings reached Greenland. Did he sight 

 Greenland from Iceland, which is said to happen occasionally in the 

 clearest weather? At any rate a certain Gunnbiorn is claimed to 

 have sighted Greenland before 900 A.D. Or did the first discoverer 

 have a quarrel and was he driven out of Iceland ? There is a story 

 to that effect about Eric the Red, who is believed to be the first 

 Norseman who actually landed on the shores of Greenland. He 

 was followed by his son Leif Ericson, by Bjarni Herjulfson, by 

 Thorfinn Karlsefni, and others. Settlements were formed in 

 Greenland and further voyages were made to Markland, to Hellu- 



