Who was the first known European to have discovered continental North America?

Leif Erikson was a Norse explorer from Iceland. According to the Sagas of Icelanders, he established a Norse settlement at Vinland, tentatively identified with the Norse L'Anse aux Meadows on the northern tip of Newfoundland in modern-day Canada. Later archaeological evidence suggests that Vinland may have been the areas around the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and that the L'Anse aux Meadows site was a ship repair station.