It seems like Columbus's journey kicked off a tremendous European push to claim these new territories and their resources, so why didn't something like that happen hundreds of years earlier when the Vikings reached North America?
Is it that the Vikings lacked the kind of resources and organization needed to launch those kinds of expeditions and that word of the "discovery" didn't reach the rest of Europe for some reason?
Or was the state of naval technology just not ready for that kind of expedition until the late 1400s?
Or no country had the money to finance these journeys?
Or there were still plenty of resources in Europe, so no need to take the risks involved in getting more?
Or there was a degree of religious fervor in Columbus's time that wasn't around earlier?
(Mods: I know Columbus is discussed a LOT here, but I didn't see this specific question asked before when I searched)
(EDIT: And just to be clear, I see potential flaws in all of the theories above, I was just brainstorming)
Hey there,
Just to let you know, your question is fine, and we're letting it stand. However, you should be aware that questions framed as 'Why didn't X do Y' relatively often don't get an answer that meets our standards (in our experience as moderators). There are a few reasons for this. Firstly, it often can be difficult to prove the counterfactual: historians know much more about what happened than what might have happened. Secondly, 'why didn't X do Y' questions are sometimes phrased in an ahistorical way. It's worth remembering that people in the past couldn't see into the future, and they generally didn't have all the information we now have about their situations; things that look obvious now didn't necessarily look that way at the time.
If you end up not getting a response after a day or two, consider asking a new question focusing instead on why what happened did happen (rather than why what didn't happen didn't happen) - this kind of question is more likely to get a response in our experience. Hope this helps!