What you learned in school
History textbooks taught that Columbus was the first European to reach the Americas in 1492. Students learned that Vikings were limited to European raids and settlements, with no mention of transatlantic voyages. The Norse sagas describing voyages to "Vinland" were dismissed as mythology rather than historical accounts. Textbooks focused on Columbus as the discoverer of the New World, making no reference to earlier Viking expeditions or settlements in North America.
What we know now
History classes taught that Vikings were limited to Europe and that Columbus was the first European to reach the Americas. Textbooks focused on Viking raids and settlements in Britain and continental Europe. Archaeological evidence at L'Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland has conclusively proven that Vikings established settlements in North America around 1000 CE. Saga literature that described these voyages, once dismissed as mythology, has been validated by physical evidence. Vikings reached America 500 years before Columbus and established temporary settlements.