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Vikings reached North America nearly 500 years before Christopher Columbus, study says

International Appalachian Trail
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Vikings from Greenland lived in Newfoundland, Canada in 1021, according to new research published in Nature.

Researchers came to the conclusion by studying trees the Vikings cut down during their occupation of the area.

“This is the first time the date has been scientifically established,” archaeologist Margot Kuitems told NBC News.

Kuitems is the study's lead author.

Indigenous people occupied the area before and after the Vikings, the research notes.

However, the expedition by the Vikings was the first to cross the Atlantic Ocean, nearly 500 years before Christopher Columbus arrived in the Bahamas.