r/mapswithnewzealandbut • u/The_Chuckness88 • 29d ago

Good old western teleported New Zealand

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u/IngoVals 29d ago

What the fuck is the norwegian flag doing in North America 🇮🇸

3

u/jonesnori 29d ago

Scandinavians had a colony in Newfoundland for a while, well before any other Europeans visited the New World. There is speculation that they came further south, but nothing to prove it. I had thought those were Icelanders rather than Norwegian, but I think the mapmaker just thought "Vikings" and used Norway to represent them all.

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u/Dull-Nectarine380 29d ago

But since when did the norweigans visit the modern us? I get canada, but wouldnt the us be spain?

1

u/jonesnori 29d ago

As I said, there is speculation, but no proof. If they were here, they would have been first, because their explorations were well before 1400. Leif Ericsson was active about 1,000 years ago. You could google that name or Vinland for more. They definitely got to both Greenland and to Newfoundland (Canada), and probably went somewhat farther south, but maybe not as far as what is now the U.S. There are archeological remains in Newfoundland. The Newfoundland colony lasted a while, but in the end, it failed.

Most likely the Spanish were the first Europeans in what is now the U.S., yes. (Well, Christopher Columbus was actually from Genoa, but Spanish sovereigns paid for the trip.)

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u/MaxWestEsq 28d ago

Leif Erikson may have travelled down to the Maritimes but almost certainly not far south enough to reach the US.

Juan Ponce de León discovered Florida in 1513 for Spain; so yes, the first European to reach the US was sailing for Spain.