Christopher Columbus did not introduce the first native Americans to Europe, according to new research. (Picture: PoodlesRock/Corbis)

When Christopher Columbus paraded his newly discovered American Indians through the streets of Spanish towns at the end of the 15th century, he was not in fact introducing the first native Americans to Europe, according to new research.

Scientists who have studied the genetic past of an Icelandic family now claim the first Americans reached Europe a full five centuries before Columbus bumped into an island in the Bahamas during his first voyage of discovery in 1492.

Researchers said today that a woman from the Americas probably arrived in Iceland 1,000 years ago, leaving behind genes that are reflected in about 80 Icelanders today.

The link was first detected among inhabitants of Iceland, home to one of the most thorough gene-mapping programs in the world, several years ago.

Initial suggestions that the genes may have arrived via Asia were ruled out after samples showed they had been in Iceland since the early 18th century, before Asian genes began appearing among Icelanders.

Investigators discovered the genes could be traced to common ancestors in the south of Iceland, near the Vatnajˆkull glacier, in around 1710.

“As the island was practically isolated from the 10th century onwards, the most probable hypothesis is that these genes correspond to an Amerindian woman who was taken from America by the Vikings some time around the year 1000,” Carles Lalueza-Fox, of the Pompeu Fabra university in Spain, said.

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Tags: bahamas, carles lalueza, Christopher Columbus, First Americans, guardian, Iceland, l'anse aux meadows, pompeu fabra university, spain's centre for scientific research, terranova

Dr. Yvette Roubideaux, director of the Indian Health Service, penned the following opinion piece on Mark Trahant’s yearlong series of columns on Indian Country and health care reform. Trahant’s work has been featured every Monday in Buffalo Post, as well by news organizations, websites and other publications around the country:

By Yvette Roubideaux, M.D., M.P.H.

Mark Trahant is completing a comprehensive and unprecedented series of columns on health reform and the Indian health system. These columns have shed new light on the Indian Health Service (IHS) and how it is influenced by and impacted by the rest of the U.S. healthcare system. These columns were made more timely and relevant by the historic passage of the Affordable Care Act and reauthorization of the Indian Health Care Improvement Act that occurred during Mr. Trahant’s work this past year

These columns have helped put the spotlight on the IHS, which is a health care system that serves 1.9 million American Indians and Alaska Natives from 564 Tribes in 35 states. The IHS rarely is mentioned in the national media, but it serves a critically important role to address the health disparities faced by American Indians and Alaska Natives. Many Americans do not understand the role of this health care system, or the treaty obligations and trust responsibilities that led to its formation over 50 years ago.

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Tags: Affordable Care Act, Alaska Natives, American Indians, buffalo post, First Americans, Health care reform, IHS, Indian Health Care Improvement Act, Indian Health Service, Mark Trahant, Native American news, Native Americans, Tribal Law and Order Act, Yvette Roubideaux