Also there’s an amusing hypothesis that the reason why Spain even sponsored Columbus was because European ships had been brushing up against the new world at an increasing rate since Leif Erikson and Thorfinn Karlsefni did their expeditions. Now if those brushs with the new world were intentional or not is up for debate but there is evidence that Irish sailors may have been poaching walruses around Greenland after the Greenland ivory trade started to collapse.
Also there’s an amusing hypothesis that the reason why Spain even sponsored Columbus was because European ships had been brushing up against the new world at an increasing rate since Leif Erikson and Thorfinn Karlsefni did their expeditions. Now if those brushs with the new world were intentional or not is up for debate but there is evidence that Irish sailors may have been poaching walruses around Greenland after the Greenland ivory trade started to collapse.