Not apropos the subject however, two things to keep in mind on the so-called pre/post Columbian dividing line:

1. Generations: Roughly sixteen generations between the founding of the Icelandic colonies in Greenland-Newfoundland (sanctioned by the same Alþingi that governs Iceland today) and the arrival of Columbus in the Caribbean. It was a slave economy with the main export being walrus ivory, white gold in the Mediterranean. The Roman Catholic Church (sanctioned by, same-same &c) got its tithe for pretty much all those 16 generations.

2. Roman Catholic Church: 1126AD Greenland ordained its first Catholic bishop. 1152 Diocese of Greenland, Iceland, the Isle of Man, the Orkney Islands, and the Faroe Islands made subject to Archdiocese of Nidaros, Norway. 1202-03 Greenland Bishop Árnason pilgrimage to Rome and audience with Innocent III &c up through the Hanseatic League (Holy Roman Empire) era.

The Basque? Ignatius of Loyola, 'nuff said.

And of course it was next door neighbor Isabella the Catholic (aka: I of Castile) who packed Columbus' lunch.

The RCC had been keeping book on North America for almost four hundred years (13 great-grandfathers) before Columbus. Same song, different verse.