Leif Erikson
Leif Erikson or Leif Ericson ( 970 – c. 1020) was a Norse explorer from Iceland. He was the first known European to have set foot on continental North America (excluding Greenland), before Christopher Columbus. According to the Sagas of Icelanders, he established a Norse settlement at Vinland, tentatively identified with the Norse L'Anse aux Meadows on the northern tip of Newfoundland in modern-day Canada. Later archaeological evidence suggests that Vinland may have been the areas around the Gulf of St. Lawrence and that the L'Anse aux Meadows site was a ship repair station.
Matthias Ringmann
Around 1503, Ringmann visited Italy. There, he learned about the newly discovered western lands and the explorations that took place within them. These lands were initially known as the New World, and were later named "the Americas". He also came to believe that Amerigo Vespucci had discovered South America.