[hydrogen7800]

I sometimes wonder how the nature of North America was perceived by the early european settlers. With the body of american myth, including the wild west, etc, you could get the impression that the plains were more vast, the mountains taller, the rivers rougher and the animals bigger than anywhere else in the world. Compared to continental Europe, I suppose this could be true. But were the plains of central Asia, the Himalayas, the animals of Africa unknown to these people? Or maybe they were know, and the experiences of the other placed I mentioned were similarly described.