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Essay Name       : 926.txt 
Uploader         : Lance Peterson
Email Address    : lpeterso@sundance.usd.edu
Language         : American English
Subject          : History
Title            : Historical Rights of the Vikings
Grade            : 85%
School System    : Collage
Country          : United States
Author Comments  : Enjoy!
Teacher Comments : Good Esay! But needed to be longer.
Date             : 11/12/96
Site found at    : Surfing
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	“Columbus sailed the ocean blue in the year 1492”, this statement not only holds
great truths but it also holds great lies. The United States has held on to the belief that
Christopher Columbus was the discoverer of North America since the beginning of it’s
recorded history. The total unwillingness of the American society to yield to new history is
a travesty to not only the law of progress but to the people that discovered North America,
the Vikings.  The problem of not giving recognition to the Vikings discovery of North
America must be dealt with in order to put history in the proper prospective.
	When one picks up a America History textbook, it invariably makes mention to the
so called voyage of discovery by Christopher Columbus.  The existence of the text is in it
self not a problem, but the beliefs behind the text is were the injustice occurs.  That very
“History” book is  not teaching history but rather it is teaching the young of this country to
look past the truth and blindly believe in Columbus’s voyage of discovery.  A grand
injustice is occurring in schools a over this country.  The grand injustice is non other than
the oppression of the facts that Viking explores discovered and were living in North
America some two-hundred years before Columbus’s voyage.  
	Facts behind the Vikings presence in North America long before Columbus can not
be disputed.  Archaeological record has turned up Viking goods and sites in Canada, which
are carbon-14 dated to the Viking Age, circa. 800- 1200.  Other evidence comes from the
Icelandic Sagas which tell of the colonization of North America by one Leif Ericsson.
Under normal circumstances the afor mentioned facts would be more than enough to
constitute a complete change in history as we no it, however the issue it hand is by no
means normal.
	What are the causes for the American culture’s complete contempt toward the idea
of a relatively small piece of new history such as the Viking discovery of North America? 
Well, when viewed from the eyes of the U.S’s people the Viking discovery of North
America takes on a frighteningly dangerous persona of a event that threatens to erase all
that once was and all that will be regarding Christopher Columbus.  The discovery of the
presence of a European people being in America before Columbus, to the typical patriotic
American, could bring about a total change in the culture of the U.S. This fear of losing
ones culture has brought to the front a need to keep Columbus’s image intact.  The
preservation of the image of Columbus comes with a heavy burden, that of the complete
undermining of historical fact.
	A solution to the problem is not so readily available.  One must take into
consideration the fact that either consciously or subconsciously the American culture would
rather look past historical fact and continue believing in the institutionalized ideal of
Columbus and his discoveries.  Thus, the solution to the problem can not simply make
people believe, but rather teach people to belief in the truth.  The idea of teaching could
also provide some problems because to teach the teacher needs to believe in what they are
teaching, and if the teacher was taught that Columbus was the discoverer of North America
what is one to do? The answer lies in the past, history shows that in the majority of cases
change occurs over a long extended period of time.  A practical example would be in the
automobile industry, when a new line of cars come out they have properties and
characteristics of the older version.  People would not exempt an entirely new style of car
that was completely different than anything seen before. Thus, a car manufacturer keeps
some of the old while building new cars.  Then as change occurs over extended time,
characteristics of the old car are completely gone.  A similar approach must be taken with
the introduction of a new and potentially abrasive historical fact.  The scientific community
must slowly introduce the ideal of a new history to the public, much in the same way the
car manufacturer introduces a new car.  The figure of Columbus must be preserved for the
time being in order to institute a completely new idea in it’s place. One way the
transformation could occur is by proposing that the Norse were the discoverer’s of North
America and that Columbus was the discoverer of the America we now today. Eventually
Columbus’s recognition would be eliminated much in the same way the characteristics of
old cars are eventually completely replaced by those of new cars.  An delicate and patient
approach to the introduction of the new idea of the pre-Columbus discoverers of North
America is needed, but with a scientific approach to the problem all that was wrong will be
fixed.
	The definite problem of disassociation with the historic fact of the Viking discovery
of North America must end in this country.  A new and fresh outlook on the facts of true
history must be recognized.  The problem must also be recognized as a legitimate threat to
the heart of history. It may start here in the U.S. with the refusal to give the Vikings credit
for their discoveries, but were will it end? Will the world simply shove aside all the history
they don’t like or agree with? The answer is no as long as the scientific community and the
world population gives credit to new history that replaces the old.  History and the Vikings
must be given their due by solving the inherent disbelief in this country.
“We owe the dead nothing but the truth”
Voltaire, Letters on Oedipus 
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