Leif Erikson: His discovery had potential
Christopher Columbus thought he hit gold and was wrong. Leif Erikson did hit gold (at least in the metaphoric sense) and didn't notice.
Leif Erikson's renewed popularity as an early explorer (and warrior) in North America might just rest on the fact that he landed in the New World and didn't care. He and his warriors hunted, fished, cut down trees, and warred with the locals. But, they weren't into plundering wilderness. They preferred cities.
By one account, Erikson (thought to be born about 970 AD, the son of Erik the Red) was bound for Greenland from Norway to convert the locals to Christianity when he was blown off course. He probably landed in modern Newfoundland more than 400 years before Christopher Columbus landed in the Caribbean.
By another account, Erikson was aiming for North America where he rescued two unnamed Europeans who were shipwrecked there.
So, Erikson may not have been the first European to see North America, nor the first to land, but he might have been the first explorer.
Later, the Norsemen sailed to the area for at least a decade, taking timber, grapevines, and fish, and having the usual wars with the locals. But, after his landfall in North America, Erikson returned permanently to the Viking settlement in Greenland, perhaps preferring a settlement to the wilderness.
