Change

A millennium ago, Norsemen made their way into North America, with at least one established settlement at L'Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland, but plenty of evidence that they were elsewhere in the continent. 

Wood chips and metal slag from L'Anse aux Meadows is part of what they left behind.

There is also trace evidence of them through the Arctic, items that found their way into the hands of indigenous people over time.

The Vikings would leave after a number of years, and for several hundred more years, the continent was left in the hands of indigenous peoples. But the fall of Constantinople, with its resulting impact on the movement of trade goods from Asia, along with a collapse of the coastal fisheries, spurred Europeans to look west across the ocean.

Initial explorers reported an abundance of resources, especially for fishing. These are some of the tools of fishing boats of that era.

As Europeans began to come more and more across the ocean, they had more encounters with the residents.

England and France, which had a long standing rivalry, would both send explorers actively across the Atlantic to begin to establish colonies and settlements.

This is a model of the San Juan, a galleon that sank in Red Bay in the 1500s.

Both France and England were interested in the resources of the New World, as well as the possibility of the elusive Northwest Passage. Men like Jacques Cartier sailed for France.

While Martin Frobisher sailed for England, moving into northern waters and thinking that he had found gold. He was mistaken.