Long before Columbus, daring explorers were discovering new lands and opening trade routes across continents. Erik the Red established the first Norse settlements in Greenland, while his followers founded L'Anse aux Meadows—the first known European settlement in North America. Around the same period, Timbuktu grew into a thriving center of trade and learning, linking the Sahara with the rest of Africa. Marco Polo journeyed along the Silk Road to China, introducing Europe to distant civilizations, and centuries later Francis Drake completed the world's second circumnavigation, proving the global reach of the oceans. This campaign follows an age when courageous explorers steadily expanded the boundaries of the known world.
