The Discovery of America 1

The Discovery of America tells about the ideas and issues that have shaped the United States from the discovery of the New World to the first president of the united states.


We have been taught that Christopher Columbus discovered the New World. In fact, the second Monday in October is celebrated as a national holiday, Columbus Day, to honor the European explorer. But October's page on the calendar also has a lesser known observance. October ninth is Leif Erickson Day. Leif Erickson was a Norse explorer who sailed around the northeastern coast of what we now call North America about one thousand years ago. He and his crew returned to Greenland with news of a place he called "Vinland." Following his explorations, a few settlements were built. Experts digging in eastern Canada in the nineteen sixties found the remains of a village with houses like those in Greenland, Iceland and Norway. But the Norse did not establish any permanent settlements in North America. The Discovery of America begins with the story of early European explorers in North America.


LEARN ENGLISH AS YOU READ AND LISTEN TO THE DESCRIPTIONS AND HISTORIES OF THE UNITED STATES. ADAPTATIONS ARE WRITTEN AT THE INTERMEDIATE AND UPPER-BEGINNER LEVEL AND ARE READ ONE-THIRD SLOWER THAN REGULAR ENGLISH.