Something inspired by the Vinland discussion we had recently.
There seems to be a feeling that to settle North America, you sail west, and, lo, endless land and riches await.
Yet Roanoke failed. Numerous French colonization attempts in North and South America failed. Darien failed. Rio De Janero was abandoned after its initial colonization. Jamestown, Plymouth Bay also failed. New Amsterdam was doing very poorly before Van Stuyvesant took over.
I think this is something we forget when discussing Vinland, and colonization of America in general.