A new discovery revealed in 2016 that the Vikings may have travelled hundreds of miles further into North America than previously thought. It's well known that they reached the tip of the continent more than 1,000 years ago, but the full extent of their exploration has remained a mystery, writes historian Dan Snow.

The Vikings (or Norse) were hugely skilled navigators, ship builders and astronomers. They covered truly vast distances and settled in places far from home.

The Vikings conquered Normandy in France - the land of the "Northmen" (Norse Men)  - even parts of Italy and the Levant. They also founded Dublin, made left a deep imprint on England and island-hopped across the North Atlantic to Orkney, Shetland, Fair Isle and Iceland.

The descendants of the Vikings left us skaldic poetry and sagas. The Poetic Edda and Prose Edda are magnificent works of literature in which fact and fiction are blended. We will study those texts (and interpretations of those texts by passionate scholars through the ages) on this program.

These sources  clearly state that the intrepid "North Man" Leif Erikson led an expedition to the east coast of North America. If that is so, he and his crew reached America  a whopping 500 years before Columbus! They describe good harbours, and an abundance of natural resources. They remained there for one winter. Until today debates rage whether these accounts can be believed. This remains one of the great mysteries in the field of history - some say.

Of course anyone well versed in shamanic techniques would say: consult the spirits, consult our Viking ancestors, journey on it! On our program we will seek guidance and information directly from our ancestors as well as otherworld beings such as the norns, elves and fylgjor.

A veritable exodus from Scandinavia to The New World occurred many centuries after Leif Eriksson made his great voyage.

Swedes and Norwegians left their homelands to escape grinding poverty, restrictions on religious freedom and the compulsory military draft. Arable land was scarce and few other jobs were available. The mass exodus, the often harrowing journeys and tough new beginnings made a deep impression on their collective psyche.

Today more than 11m Americans claim to have Scandinavian ancestry. This pales against the 46m who say they have German roots or the 33m who trace their ancestry to Ireland, but the 5m Norwegian-Americans are roughly equivalent to the whole population of Norway. No country, except Ireland, lost as high a percentage of its population to America as Norway. The scope of Swedish immigration is similarly vast: between 1880 and 1920 around 20-25% of the population left for America.

-The Economist