Yes, they have radio-carbon dated proof of it from settlements in Labrador and on New Foundland. This has been known for decades now. The Italian American population is large and quite influential enough here that Columbus Day will still be celebrated for many years to come. They take strong objection to being suplanted after so many centuries of being accepted as the first. Never quite made sense to me as Columbus was an Italian sailing a group of Spanish ships. So the Spanish have every bit as much right to crow as the Italians. I think there's room enough for all three. The Scandinavians for getting here first (after the Mongols who became the Native Americans some 10,00 years earlier), the Italians for having the man who led the first first successful colonization and the Spanish for funding the mission and providing the manpower and ships. Some even think the Chinese sailed to California some decades before Columbus. Objects thought to be Chinese anchors have been found off the coast and a Chinese adventurer did exist at that time whose tale seems to indicate that he did go there, but he stayed even less than the Scandinavians did who at least tried to settle.