Who discovered the ''new world'' before christopher Columbus?

Before Christopher Columbus, the Norse explorer Leif Erikson is often credited with discovering parts of North America around the year 1000 AD. He is believed to have landed in a region he called Vinland, which is thought to be located in present-day Newfoundland, Canada. Additionally, there are theories suggesting that other cultures, such as the Polynesians or Chinese, may have reached the Americas prior to Columbus, but evidence for these claims is less conclusive.