It was the Vikings, not Christopher Columbus, who made the first European discovery of America. It was the Vikings, not the Pilgrim Fathers, who were the first Europeans settlers in America, and it was probably the Vikings who first used the name America.

Around a thousand years ago the Vikings crossed the North Atlantic and established their settlements on the American continent. Yet today both Europe and North America treat the Vikings in North America as if it were no more than a curious footnote to their histories – as if the Vikings made just a handful of voyages with little impact. This book challenges this outdated view. We now know that the Vikings travelled widely in North America, both on the east coast and in the high Arctic and Hudson Bay. Today we realise that Viking presence in America lasted nearly five centuries, and its legacy inspired much of the post-Columban exploration of North America.

Graeme Davis is a specialist in the mediaeval world, its language, literature and culture. Recent books include studies of the language and literature of Anglo-Saxon, Old High German and Old Icelandic cultures. He is honorary Reader in the School of English at University of St Andrews, previously a British Academy funded researcher at the University of Iceland, and an enthusiast for the North Atlantic region, where he has travelled extensively.