In fourteen hundred and ninety-two Columbus sailed the ocean bule Many students know this rhyme which helps them remember the year, 1492 AD, in which Columbus first reached the American continent. However, it is almost certain that Vikings, led by Leif Ericsson, reached the American continent 500 years before Columbus.There is a rock carring near present-day Brisstol, Rhode Island, that is taken as eridence of a 1000 AD landing. In fact, Egyptian lotus plants still growing in Delaware may have been starter by ancient Egyptian mariners many thousands of years ago. And what of the American Indians of today? Dis they come across a land bridge from Asia more than 20000 years ago. Who discovered America?