Beating Columbus

On October 9th, Leaf Eriksson, the viking, becomes the first European to discover America by landing in Canada. This does not specifically impact our life today, but it is very interesting to me the way history plays out. We learn all through school that it was Columbus who discovered America, when in fact Leaf did almost 500 years prior. It clearly comes down to the Spanish and the English's greed for gold and land, but it is mind blowing to think about what it would be like today if Vikings had been the conquistadors of the new world, and 500 years earlier.