Why is Christopher Columbus not considered the first European to reach North America?

Christopher Columbus is not considered the first European to reach North America because archaeological evidence confirms that Vikings established a presence on the continent approximately 500 years before his 1492 voyage.1

While Columbus is often historically cited as the discoverer of America, medieval Norse sagas describe earlier expeditions to a region they called Vinland. These accounts were validated in 1960 by the discovery of a Viking encampment at L’Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland, Canada, which dates to roughly 1000 CE. According to these records, Leif Erikson and other Norse explorers reached North American shores long before Columbus’s arrival.213

Furthermore, it is essential to acknowledge that the term "discovery" is Eurocentric. Indigenous peoples had inhabited the continent for thousands of years prior to any European arrival, and there is also evidence suggesting that Polynesians may have encountered South America before the time of Columbus.1