Hello and welcome to the History Extra Podcast from BBC History magazine, Britain's

bestselling History magazine.

I'm Ellie Corthon.

What do we actually know about the Vikings' exploration of North America in the 10th and

11th centuries?

And what does the fierce battle that has raged over the legacy of these voyages tell us about

modern America?

Gordon Campbell, Emeritus professor and fellow in-renecend studies at the University of Lester,

considers these questions in his new book, North America.

Here, in conversation with our production editor Spencer Misen, Gordon discusses some of

the most remarkable voyages of discovery in human history.

Gordon, your new book tells the story not only of the North's exploration of North America

in the 10th and 11th centuries, but also of the battle that's been fought over those

explorations over the past two or three hundred years.

Why is the master of what the North did or did not do in North America a millennium

ago?

You have such a bailed attention.

Well in part it's an argument about about primacy.

There's a difference between the way Europeans think about this and the way settler societies

like America think about it.

When you or I look at Stonehenge or a Scott looks at Scarab Bray, we see our own remote

past, even though the chances of our being related to the people in Stonehenge or Scarab

...