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Topic	Leif Eriksson Day
ParanoidObsessive 01/06/20 2:05:19 PM #7:	BUMPED2002 posted... If Viking explorer Leif Eriksson Day reached N America hundreds of years before Columbus, should Columbus be credited with "discovering" America? Since absolutely nothing meaningful or long-term impactful came of it, no. In the same way that I don't really care whether or not the Portuguese got here in the early 1400s (very possible), the Chinese got here even earlier in the late 1300/early 1400s (less likely), or the Welsh at some point way prior to that (extremely unlikely), or Africans and Polynesians (relatively possible), and so on. Though if Leif had spread enough disease to kill off 90%+ of the native population and pave the way for centuries worth of immigration, colonization, settlement, and total cultural restructuring, I'd be all about giving him his own day as a reward. Like it or not, Columbus MADE the modern world. Leif... didn't even really "find" North America (his dad founded the first successful colony on Greenland, though his people knew it was there even before that). Leif heard rumors of land west of Greenland from other Icelandic sailors, eventually landed in Canada, tried to establish a colony that failed, and then he went back to Greenland and eventually died . -I've- done more meaningful things in my life. Give me my own day! Leif basically became the default reaction to "Oh, we're starting to feel guilty about all that native-murdering we did, maybe we should stop glorifying Columbus", but he never really did much to actually deserve the praise. It's just that there aren't all that many other options where you can literally name a specific person, and "discovering" North America in 1000 AD is such a nice round number that people love the idea of it. --- "Wall of Text'D!" --- oldskoolplayr76 "POwned again." --- blight family <cite>ParanoidObsessive posted [p:932547434] in Leif Eriks... [t:78309500]...</cite> <quote><cite>BUMPED2002 posted...</cite> <quote>If Viking explorer Leif Eriksson Day reached N America hundreds of years before Columbus, should Columbus be credited with "discovering" America?</quote> Since absolutely nothing meaningful or long-term impactful came of it, no. In the same way that I don't really care whether or not the Portuguese got here in the early 1400s (very possible), the Chinese got here even earlier in the late 1300/early 1400s (less likely), or the Welsh at some point way prior to that (extremely unlikely), or Africans and Polynesians (relatively possible), and so on. Though if Leif had spread enough disease to kill off 90%+ of the native population and pave the way for centuries worth of immigration, colonization, settlement, and total cultural restructuring, I'd be all about giving him his own day as a reward. Like it or not, Columbus MADE the modern world. Leif... didn't even really "find" North America (his dad founded the first successful colony on Greenland, though his people knew it was there even before that). Leif heard rumors of land west of Greenland from other Icelandic sailors, eventually landed in Canada, tried to establish a colony that failed, and then he went back to Greenland and eventually died . -I've- done more meaningful things in my life. Give me my own day! Leif basically became the default reaction to "Oh, we're starting to feel guilty about all that native-murdering we did, maybe we should stop glorifying Columbus", but he never really did much to actually deserve the praise. It's just that there aren't all that many other options where you can literally name a specific person, and "discovering" North America in 1000 AD is such a nice round number that people love the idea of it. --- "Wall of Text'D!" --- oldskoolplayr76 "POwned again." --- blight family</quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
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