Quote Originally Posted by Tiberius
They didn't really need the military, they just won over the natives I heard.

The Phoenicans did have some famous explorers such as Hanno, but I doubt that they could reach America with the ships of the dark ages. The Vikings did have a colony, but they got driven off by natives. (was it in Canada?)

The Chinese had also sailed to America long before Colombus, but they never bothered to have colonies. They just never had any wish to make an Empire.
The Vikings spent at least a couple of seasons in Newfoundland and possibly further south. The remains of a typical Norse settlement have been excavated in Newfoundland at L'Anse aux Meadows. The site had typical Norse ember pits and longhouses, as well as obvious Norse tools such as a soapstone spindle whorl and bronze pins. They didn't get along with the natives, however; and soon left. They called the natives skraelings in the sagas about Vinland. The sagas tell of Lief Erikson's brother Thorvald being killed by a skraeling arrow in Vinland.

On the subject of the Chinese exploration, Chinese admiral Zheng He is believed by some to have reached the west coast of the Americas; but there is no supportable evidence of such. He certainly sailed much of the Southwest Pacific and Indian Oceans and went as far as Africa in exploratory missions for the Chinese emperor. It's the sailing east to the Americas that is controversial.

The Phoenicians making it to America is more controversial still. Any storied Phoenician exploration of the Americas is pure supposition. They did manage to visit the British Isles, certainly; and possibly went down the west coast of Africa. In their ships, which were coastal traders, making an Atlantic crossing would be improbable at best.