Editing Pre-Columbian transoceanic contact theories (section)

=== Norse legends and sagas ===
[[File:Thorfinn Karlsefni 1918.jpg|thumb|upright|Statue of Thorfinn Karlsefni]]
In 1009, legends report that Norse explorer [[Thorfinn Karlsefni]] abducted two children from [[Markland]], an area on the North American mainland where Norse explorers visited but did not settle. The two children were then taken to Greenland, where they were baptized and taught to speak Norse.<ref>[https://www.gutenberg.org/files/17946/17946-h/17946-h.htm Eirik the Red's Saga by John Sephton] paragraph 14</ref>

In 1420, Danish geographer [[Claudius Clavus Swart]] wrote that he personally had seen "[[pygmies]]" from Greenland who were caught by Norsemen in a small skin boat. Their boat was hung in [[Nidaros Cathedral]] in [[Trondheim]] along with another, longer boat also taken from "pygmies". Clavus Swart's description fits the Inuit and two of their types of boats, the [[kayak]] and the [[umiak]].<ref name=ADE163 /><ref name=ANA /> Similarly, the Swedish clergyman [[Olaus Magnus]] wrote in 1505 that he saw in [[Oslo Cathedral]] two leather boats taken decades earlier. According to Olaus, the boats were captured from Greenland pirates by one of the [[Haakon (disambiguation)|Haakons]], which would place the event in the 14th century.<ref name=ADE163 />

In [[Ferdinand Columbus]]'s biography of his father Christopher, he says that in 1477 his father saw in [[Galway]], Ireland, two dead bodies which had washed ashore in their boat. The bodies and boat were of exotic appearance, and have been suggested to have been [[Inuit]] who had drifted off course.<ref>Seaver (1995), p. 208</ref>