In 1427, the Portuguese navigator Diogo de Silves first set foot on an uninhabited, Sun-kissed island with white sand beaches, crystal blue bays, and dramatic cliffs, proclaiming it Santa Maria Island. Later arrivals by other Portuguese explorers revealed it to be the southeasternmost island of the Azores archipelago, which lies about 1368 kilometers west of Portugal’s coast.
According to a new study of lake sediment cores, however, the Portuguese may not have been the first people to reach the island paradise: Viking seafarers may have arrived some 700 years earlier than de Silves and his crew. Any Vikings were long gone by the time Portuguese sailors arrived, the authors note, but some Norse rodent stowaways may have left a lasting genetic mark on the island.
https://www.science.org/content/article/vikings-paradise-were-norse-first-settle-azores
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