Final answer:
Christopher Columbus is often credited with discovering America for Europe with voyages to Cuba around 1492, but Viking explorers like Leif Erikson had arrived in North America centuries earlier, proven by findings at L'Anse aux Meadows. Amerigo Vespucci later identified the Americas as a separate landmass.
Step-by-step explanation:
The explorer who "discovered" America for Europe and made successful voyages to modern-day Cuba was Christopher Columbus. Although Columbus is often credited with discovering the Americas in 1492, it is well established that Viking explorers, such as Leif Erikson, reached the continent approximately five hundred years earlier. In fact, artifacts and the remains of a Norse settlement found at L'Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland, Canada, verify the presence of Vikings in North America around the year 1000 CE, contradicting the belief that Columbus was the pioneer in trans-Atlantic exploration. Moreover, Amerigo Vespucci, for whom the Americas were named, recognized that the lands discovered were not part of Asia but were entirely new to Europeans, further expanding the understanding of the New World.