ABSTRACT
W ell before the arrival of columbus in 1492, the diverse Indian peoples who had inhabited the Americas for at least 15,000 years encountered occasional newcomers. We know, for example, that Vikings from Norway and Greenland settled for several years in Newfoundland around 1000 A.D. There are interesting indications that other ocean voyagers may also have appeared once or twice from Europe, Africa, and Asia at earlier times. Did these visitors arrive voluntarily, or were they simply swept to America by powerful winds and currents? We do not know for sure, but there is little evidence as yet that they stayed long, traveled widely, or had any significant genetic or cultural impact. These hazy pre-Columbian contacts make rich subjects for speculation, but they appear to have been brief and limited encounters at best. It was not until Columbus that transatlantic voyages could at last be regularly repeated, and then endlessly continued, building ever-increasing links between continents and human populations that had known virtual isolation. The enormous forced diaspora of African peoples to the Western Hemisphere is part of this larger pattern.
