What do the natives call America?
What do the natives call America? 'Turtle Island' is the name for the lands now known as North and Central America. It is a name used by some Indigenous peoples who believe their land was formed on the back of a turtle. Though regional versions exist, the core of this creation story relates to a time when the planet was covered in water.
Who found America before Columbus?
Meanwhile, on the eastern shores of the Americas, the most certain, best-documented evidence for European contact with America before Columbus is the Vikings. Icelandic sagas record that Lief Eriksson took a ship west from Greenland in the year 1001 and set up a settlement in an area they called Vinland.