As the truth continues to surface, here’s one that’s truly stunning:
According to this Library of Congress document:
America was discovered by the Norse (Vikings), led by Leif Erikson, around A.D. 1000, nearly 500 years before Christopher Columbus.
Columbus did not “discover” America, but rather re-discovered lands whose existence was already known to the Church of Rome through Icelandic and Scandinavian sources.
The Catholic Church possessed detailed knowledge of Vinland (North America) via Icelandic manuscripts, clergy, monasteries, and oral tradition.
Columbus’s voyage was primarily a religious–missionary enterprise, sponsored by the Church and Spanish Crown, not a scientific or exploratory breakthrough.
Major arguments made:
Icelandic sagas, manuscripts, and monasteries preserved written evidence of Norse voyages to:
Greenland
Vinland (identified with parts of modern New England / Massachusetts / Rhode Island)
Columbus visited Iceland in 1477, where he likely learned precise geographic details from:
Clergy
Scholars
Sailors familiar with Greenland and Vinland routes
The Church supported Columbus to:
Extend papal power
Counter the Reformation
Establish a Catholic stronghold in the Western Hemisphere
Political purpose of the document
The author strongly opposes the proposed 1892 Columbus Celebration and instead urges the U.S. government to:
Officially recognize Leif Erikson as the discoverer of America
Hold a national celebration honoring the Norse discovery
Create a Viking historical exhibition (with ships, artifacts, manuscripts, sagas)
Integrate Norse history into the National Museum as part of America’s authentic origin story
The document frames this as a matter of:
Historical truth
Republican values
Resistance to religious revisionism of U.S. origins
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Date of the document
The document is explicitly dated at the end:
Washington, D.C., March 23, 1888
This places it:
Four years before the 1892 Columbian Exposition
During a period of intense debate over national identity, immigration, religion, and historical narrative in the United States
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The stamps: what they are and whether they are legitimate
A. Repeating diagonal watermark: “Library of Congress”
This is a digital watermark, not an original ink stamp.
It is commonly applied to scanned archival materials distributed by the Library of Congress to prevent misuse or misattribution.
It indicates the source of the scan, not alteration of content.
✅ Legitimate
✅ Standard archival practice
B. Bottom-left stamp (open book icon)
This is a Library of Congress ownership/collection mark
Indicates the document is:
Held by the Library of Congress
Cataloged or archived in its collections
✅ Legitimate
✅ Confirms provenance and institutional custody
C. Bottom-right stamp: “Preservation Technologies”
This identifies the company/lab that performed digitization and preservation
Preservation Technologies is a real, well-known preservation firm that:
Works with libraries, universities, and archives
Digitizes fragile historical documents
The stamp does not imply authorship, editing, or bias
✅ Legitimate
✅ Indicates technical preservation only
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Bottom line assessment
The document is authentic in form and provenance
The stamps are legitimate archival and preservation marks
The content reflects a real 19th-century scholarly and political argument, not a modern fabrication
While the author’s tone is polemical and anti-Catholic (typical of the era), the document:
Accurately reflects historical debates of the late 1800s
Cites real scholars, sagas, and institutions
Aligns with modern historical consensus that Norse explorers reached North America centuries before Columbus
Link to original Library of Congress Document:
https://dn720404.ca.archive.org/0/items/leiferikson00ship/leiferikson00ship.pdf