Who were the first Europeans to settle in North America?

1) "The first known Europeans to reach the Americas were the Vikings (Norse) during the 11th century, who established several colonies in Greenland and one short-lived settlement at L'Anse aux Meadows in the area the Norse called Vinland, present day Newfoundland."
Source and further information:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_colonization_of_the_Americas


2) "The French first came to the New World as explorers, seeking a route to the Pacific ocean and wealth. Major French exploration of North America began under the reign of King Francis I. In 1524, Francis sent Italian-born Giovanni da Verrazano to explore the region between Florida and Newfoundland for a route to the Pacific Ocean. Verrazzano gave the names Francesca and Nova Gallia to that land between New Spain and English Newfoundland, thus promoting French interests.

Later, in 1534, Francis sent Jacques Cartier on the first of three voyages to explore the coast of Newfoundland and the St. Lawrence River. The French subsequently tried to establish several colonies throughout North America that failed, due to weather, disease or conflict with other European powers. Cartier attempted to create the first permanent European settlement in North America at Cap-Rouge in 1541 with 400 settlers but the settlement was abandoned the next year after bad weather and Indian attacks. A small group of French troops were left on Parris Island, South Carolina in 1562 to build Charlesfort, but left after a year when they were not resupplied from France. Fort Caroline established in present-day Jacksonville, Florida in 1564, lasted only a year before being destroyed by the Spanish from St. Augustine. An attempt to settle convicts on Sable Island off Nova Scotia in 1598 failed after a short time. In 1599, a sixteen-person trading post was established in Tadoussac (in present-day Quebec), of which only five men survived the first winter. In 1604, Saint Croix Island, Maine was the site of a short-lived French colony, much plagued by illness, perhaps scurvy. French Texas was established in Texas in 1685, but was gone by 1688."
Source and further information:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_colonization_of_the_Americas

pre historic Gaelics in the last ice age, earliest recordings from mocks in the 8 century documented a history that supposedly went back to around the 4 - 6 century time period but as with all oral histories violence and wars destroy it and sometimes it's not by accident remember the flat earth some Germanics have an oral history that also spoke of a land far over the oceans in the west and with recent stonehedge like structures that go back at least 7500 years it is probably closer to the truth those oral histories that is, some pre columbian tribes also seemed to know about the land across the oceans to the east and recorded that those people were very violent and should be avoided because of it as they were never satisfied with what was theirs ... Imagine that ...
and I never discount mythes, legends or oral histories, since they may not have used words like astroids or comets but called them Phoenix's or Thunderbirds or Quensiquatall (SP) all of them shared something in common, a fiery plummed serpent or bird that fell to earth or passed close enough to set the ground to shake and tree's bowed and became flames, people feel to the earth and some died while others were burned ..
>
of course when your "Primative" you use what you know to describe what you have no knowledge of ...

~Nemo~

The Vikings during the Medieval Warming Period is usually the farthest back that anyone goes.

However, there is a small amout of evidence that the Irish were in West Virginia in the 6th century:

http://www.whatdoyaknow.com/Age%20of%20Discovery/St_Brendan/Brendan-home.htm

The Vikings settled Greenland in the middle ages, but the Spanish first settled Florida in the 16th century at Saint Augustine.

Los Vikings estableció una colonia en la edad media, pero los españoles estableció la colonia en la siglo 16th en San Agustín en Florida.

The Vikings...but they were extradited by the Skrælings.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skr%C3%A6ling

Some claim that it was Stone Age Europeans who made the journey during the last Ice Age.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/horizon/2002/columbus.shtml

The idea is very controversial though and the jury is still out.

Spain
portugal
british