Thursday, July 7, 2011

Who Discovered America?


Ask the question, who discovered America in any sitting and you are prone to get the same response; Christopher Columbus. Nevertheless, this has been questioned numerous times. Columbus is claimed to have landed on the American shores in October 1492 while on his route to India. Based on history, Columbus didn't land in mainland America rather somewhere in the Bahamas. Amerigo Vespucci travelling in 1497 is claimed to have been the person that discovered America. He was an explorer of Italian origin. It's worth noting that even though Vespucci was the first individual to step on America, he's not the person who gave the continent its name. This was executed by Martin Waldseemuller.

After studying history books, it is clear that it is not sure that Columbus and Vespucci were the people who discovered America. This is because the Chinese books also claim to have executed the same. The Chinese books say that that they had landed on the Americas long before the Europeans even set foot. From this, you cannot help however keep asking who really discovered the continent that is America. If you keep studying history books, you will come to agree that indeed Columbus didn't land in America. Many other individuals reached the American coast earlier than Columbus.

Individuals from the continent of Asia are stated to have reached America earlier than Columbus and settled there. They can be stated to be the people who discovered America. It was in 986 AD that expeditions to America are supposed to have started. This was centuries earlier than Columbus landed on the continent. The expeditions are said to have been initiated by one Bjarni Herjolfsson. The rationale why he's not credited with the discovery of America has to do with the truth that the expeditions were not properly documented. Had this been achieved, it would be appropriate to state that there would not be a mention of Columbus.

In keeping with some existing data, it was Zheng, a Chinese Admiral who discovered America. Nevertheless, this has been overtly refuted as none of Zheng's voyages went past the Indian Ocean. In Icelandic tales, America was discovered by Leif Erickson a Norse explorer. While there is absolutely no documentation of this, archeologist discovered what are believed to be Viking-sort of settlements in Canada. The settlements, that are about one thousand years old, go to show that indeed Columbus was not the first individual to land in America Accordingly, it would be improper to say that he's the person that discovered the continent.

So far it is still unclear as to who discovered America. Columbus can only be credited with bringing colonialism to America. The landing of Columbia in America opened doors to other Europeans who occupied the continent and established their rule. It's worth noting that when the European colonialists landed in America they discovered the Native Americans. These are considered the native inhabitants of America. Possibly somewhere in the huge land that is America, is proof pointing to the individual or those who discovered America. Let us hope we are able to discover it someday.




I hope you enjoyed the article as much as I enjoyed writing it. If you want to read an advanced thesis on the same topic, I suggest you read my article who discovered America.



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