Answer:
Because Erikson is the first known European to have set foot in the Americas.
Explanation:
Italian explorer Christopher Columbus is usually credited as having "discovered" the Americas in 1492, when he sailed west out of the Iberian peninsula, looking for an alternate route to East Asia. However, it is now known Columbus wasn't the first European to have set foot in the Americas. That honor belongs to Leif Erikson (970-1020), an Icelandic Norse explorer. Sailing from Greenland, he sailed southwest searching for a then unknown land who had been sighted by other Norse explorers before. Archeological evidence suggests that around the year 1000, he reached an area of North America in the Labrador Peninsula in modern day Canada, which he named Vinland. Because Leif Erikson was the first known European to land in the Americas, it can be argued Leif Erikson's Day (October 9) should be celebrated instead of Columbus Day (October 12).
