Editing Cape Cod (section)

===European exploration===
Cape Cod was a landmark for early explorers. It may have been the "Promontory of [[Vinland]]" mentioned by the [[Norsemen|Norse]] voyagers (985–1025), although this is disputed. The Manomet River area (taken up by the western end of the Cape Cod Canal in the early 20th century) is claimed by some to have been visited by [[Leif Eiriksson]],<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.bournehistoricalsociety.org/aptucxettradingpost.html| publisher=Bourne Historical Society| access-date=February 27, 2011| title=Aptucxet Trading Post, Bourne Historical Society, Bourne, Cape Cod, MA| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110319100259/http://bournehistoricalsociety.org/aptucxettradingpost.html| archive-date=March 19, 2011| url-status=dead| df=mdy-all}}</ref> and a stone wall<ref name="Wikimapia link">{{cite web| url=http://www.wikimapia.org/#y=42044397&x=-70193120&z=16&l=0&m=h&v=2| title=The Norse Wall House on Wikimapia| access-date=February 13, 2007}}</ref> discovered in Provincetown in 1805 is also claimed to have been built by his younger brother [[Thorvald Eiriksson]] around AD 1007,<ref name="Norse Wall Cape Links">{{cite web| url=http://www.capelinks.com/cape-cod/main/entry/the-norse-wall/| title=The Norse Wall| access-date=February 13, 2007| publisher=capelinks.com}}</ref> when the keel of his ship was repaired in the harbor, according to [[Norse saga]]s. He was killed later in the same journey and is said to have been returned to this spot for burial.<ref>{{cite book| last=Jennings |first=Herman A. |title=Provincetown, or, odds and ends from the tip end |year=1890 |publisher=F. Hallett, Printer |location=Yarmouthport, Massachusetts |pages=9–14 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VXdHAAAAYAAJ&pg=GBS.PA9}}</ref> However, there is no tangible support of the presence of Norse voyagers in Cape Cod,<ref>{{cite book|title=Massachusetts Encyclopedia|author=Tager, Jack and Jennifer L. Herman|publisher=North American Book Dist LLC|year=2008|isbn=9781878592651|page=280}}</ref> and the view is not generally accepted by archaeologists or historians.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Coast of Summer: Sailing New England Waters from Shelter Island to Cape Cod|last=Bailey|first=Anthony|publisher=Sheridan House, Inc|year=1999|isbn=9781574090741|page=[https://archive.org/details/coastofsummersai00bail_0/page/154 154]|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/coastofsummersai00bail_0/page/154}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=A Journey Through Maine|last=Stockwell|first=Mary|publisher=Gibbs Smith|year=2006|isbn=9781423624165|page=48}}</ref>

[[Giovanni da Verrazzano]] approached it from the south in 1524. He named [[Martha's Vineyard]] Claudia, after [[Claude of France]], the wife of [[Francis I of France]].<ref name="History">{{cite web| url=http://history.vineyard.net/hfnorton/history.htm| title=HISTORY OF MARTHA'S VINEYARD| last=Baer| first=Chris| publisher=Historical Records of Dukes County, Massachusetts| access-date=June 27, 2009}}</ref> In 1525, Portuguese explorer [[Estêvão Gomes]] called it Cabo de la Arenas while sailing under the Spanish crown.<ref name="Weber1992">{{cite book| author=David J. Weber| title=The Spanish frontier in North America| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KOPdX2qaVrkC| access-date=March 18, 2012| year=1992| publisher=Yale University Press| isbn=978-0-300-05917-5| page=36}}</ref>

In 1602, [[Bartholomew Gosnold]] named the tip Cape Cod, the surviving term and the ninth oldest English place-name in the U.S.<ref name="NamesOnTheLand">{{cite book |title=Names on the Land: A Historical Account of Place-Naming in the United States |url=https://archive.org/details/namesofland0000unse |url-access=registration |last= Stewart| first=George |author-link=George R. Stewart| year=1945 |publisher= Random House| location=New York |page= [https://archive.org/details/namesofland0000unse/page/27 27]}}</ref> [[Samuel de Champlain]] charted its sand-silted harbors in 1606, and [[Henry Hudson]] landed there in 1609. Captain [[John Smith (explorer)|John Smith]] noted it on his map of 1614, and at last the [[Pilgrims (Plymouth Colony)|Pilgrims]] entered the "Cape Harbor" and made their first landing near [[Provincetown, Massachusetts|Provincetown]]{{Citation needed|date=December 2022}} on November 11, 1620. They had their first encounter with the native inhabitants in nearby [[Eastham, Massachusetts|Eastham]].