Timeblazers Jen and Sam take Alex back in time to help solve the question of who discovered North America. In the early 15th century, the Silk Road to China was a long and treacherous journey for many traders, as were voyages around the Cape of Good Hope. Christopher Columbus discovered the Bahamas in 1492, but the first Age of Discovery European to set foot on the North American continent was Giovanni Caboto, or John Cabot, who explored under King Henry VII of England. The first European to discover North America was the Viking Leif Erikson in 1001. Lastly, people now considered native to North America migrated across the Bering Strait when sea levels fell during the Ice Age—thousands of years before European arrivals.

Originally released by Chip Taylor Communications, 2005. Streaming video file encoded with permission for digital streaming by Infobase on October 13, 2014.

Discovering North America (4:52); --Silk Road Alternatives (4:31); -- Age of Discovery (3:35); -- Viking Explorers (5:12); -- Beringia Passage (5:37); -- Explorers of North America (14:37); .