Are you not taught about the vikings in school?

I guess this question isn't really possible to answer concretely, but it's important to note that the Norse settlement did not last, nor was the broadcast of its existence particularly far reaching, compared to Columbus', due to the following reason:

Columbus wrote letters, including one finalised and delivered on 4th of March 1493, exactly 528 years ago today, to Lisbon¹. Immediately, this letter was printed, copied, translated (Including into Latin, it was a big deal), and sent everywhere. Barcelona, Rome, Antwerp, Paris. He detailed islands such as Cuba and greatly exaggerated their size and resources. He describes natives(Which he called Indians*), man eating cannibals, gold, possible slaves etc, and remarks a little on the people, such as their slave potential, their lack of religion nor property laws. He ends this letter essentislly saying that if any Catholic monarch would like to invest in his voyages, it would be very profitable, which leads to the next point, being that unlike the Norse explorers, after Columbus, European invasion and expansion in the Americas never really stopped.

It should be noted at at this point that there is no proof that any viking EVER set foot on the North American mainland. Greenland, yes, Newfoundland, absolutely, but we are yet to find any archaeological evidence of Viking activity in mainland Canada. And from the archaeological evidence, such as L'Anse Aux Meadows, and the lack of historical record, it's very clear that the Norse settlements did not last, certainly no longer than 500 years. There's lots of theories, hostile natives, lack of populace, or sudden drops in temperature, we know that there were very cold winters post 1275², but ultumately, their settlement of Newfoundland did not impact further settlements, such as the USA, Canada, and Cuba of today. Whereas Columbus' voyage unfortunately opened the floodgates, and secured the demise of a natively owned America.

¹http://www.ems.kcl.ac.uk/content/pub/b002.html With a copy of the letter being here: http://www.ems.kcl.ac.uk/content/etext/e022.html

²https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120130131509.htm