Did Columbus REALLY discover the new world?

[The Castellan]

I myself never believed so.
Gunnar Thompson, an anthropologist & archeologist brought up alot of interesting stuff to agree with me on this, including very old Chinese maps made long before Columbus even lived, and they, apart from some wrong bits, pretty accurate.
YouTube The entire thing's in several parts.
And he is right...historians and college professors (especially tenure college professors) do have a dogmatic view with stuff like this....same goes with scientists like physicists.

Enjoy, and let's discuss.

 

[Squiggy]

We know he didn't. It's been known for quite a while.

 

[RoJoHen]

Yeah, it's pretty common knowledge that Columbus did NOT discover the new world.

 

[Showdown]

I myself never believed so.
Gunnar Thompson, an anthropologist & archeologist brought up alot of interesting stuff to agree with me on this, including very old Chinese maps made long before Columbus even lived, and they, apart from some wrong bits, pretty accurate.
YouTube The entire thing's in several parts.
And he is right...historians and college professors (especially tenure college professors) do have a dogmatic view with stuff like this....same goes with scientists like physicists.

Enjoy, and let's discuss.

He discovered it for his people or region.

 

[Finn]

^except chances are word reached someone in Italy/Spain from the Vikings but they weren't interested or didn't realize the significance of what the Vikings did. So the knowledge may have reached Columbus' "people" or "region" before he was even born, but it didn't gather enough interest for them to do anything about it or really write about it.

 

[Miss Chicken]

I remember reading somewhere a long time ago that in his youth Columbus was shipwrecked. The ship that rescued him and others actually went to Iceland before they dropped the survivors off. If this is true than Columbus might have heard about Vinland from the Icelanders.

 

[Alidar Jarok]

To make the argument that Columbus didn't discover the new world the Chinese did is a wasted argument. The Chinese didn't discover the new world, the Vikings did or, hell, the Native Americans did. Columbus did draw the new world to the attention of those in power in 15/16th Century Europe, though, and there isn't much debating that.

The fact that he did so for the sole reason that he was a terrible mathematician or that there's the possibility that the Basques were fishing in the new world around the time or that Europeans were expanding westward slowly anyway and would have discovered it anyway is kinda irrelevant. He happened to be the one who called people's attention to America.

 

[Brent]

Discovered it, no, made it popular, yes.

 

[Capn Flukie]

A few million people "discovered" it thousands of years before he "discovered" it.

 

[The Castellan]

I find it awesome that Africa and China had, according to the entire video, made a pretty impressive trading business in the ancient times.

 

[RJDiogenes]

Columbus discovered the Americas from the perspective of his particular civilization. Others had obviously done it before, since the area was settled. We also know that there were visits by the Chinese, Vikings and Irish, among others.

 

[Trekker4747]

I myself never believed so.
Gunnar Thompson, an anthropologist & archeologist brought up alot of interesting stuff to agree with me on this, including very old Chinese maps made long before Columbus even lived, and they, apart from some wrong bits, pretty accurate.
YouTube The entire thing's in several parts.
And he is right...historians and college professors (especially tenure college professors) do have a dogmatic view with stuff like this....same goes with scientists like physicists.

Enjoy, and let's discuss.

Congrats, you've discovered something most of us have known since the sixth grade.

 

[Alidar Jarok]

Well, I will point out that the Chinese expedition is significantly disputed. But Vikings should be well-known by everyone.

 

[Alpha_Geek]

Christopher had a brother, Bartolomeo, who was a cartographer. In 1470, Christopher studied under and workd with Bartolomeo.

In 1477, Christopher sailed to Iceland, as crew in the Portuguese fleet.

Christophers Father-in-law was an explorer, discovering the Madeira Islands and owning one of them. Part of the dowry included his charts and maps.


Columbus had these and other chances to come by the information regarding a land mass to the west.


The question I often ponder is if he actually was disregarding the well-established diameter of the world (work done by Ptolomey centuries before) and really held the belief he was going to the orient, or was he selling a bill of goods to his benefactors and exploring what he knew was a "new" land mass?

 

[Mr Awe]

I myself never believed so.
Gunnar Thompson, an anthropologist & archeologist brought up alot of interesting stuff to agree with me on this, including very old Chinese maps made long before Columbus even lived, and they, apart from some wrong bits, pretty accurate.
YouTube The entire thing's in several parts.
And he is right...historians and college professors (especially tenure college professors) do have a dogmatic view with stuff like this....same goes with scientists like physicists.

Enjoy, and let's discuss.

Obviously he didn't. The Native Americans were already here so clearly it had already been discovered, or else there would be no people in the Americas. Other people, such as the Vikings, have rediscovered America since then.

The difference with Columbus' rediscovery was that it was the start of regular interacton between the Old and New Worlds. Consequently, the scope of the impact was much greater.

Mr Awe

 

[Mr Awe]

I remember reading somewhere a long time ago that in his youth Columbus was shipwrecked. The ship that rescued him and others actually went to Iceland before they dropped the survivors off. If this is true than Columbus might have heard about Vinland from the Icelanders.

No, he was expecting to land in the Far East. He was not expecting any land in between. Hence, the term "Indians".

Mr Awe

 

[John Picard]

A few million people "discovered" it thousands of years before he "discovered" it.

A "few million"? I'm afraid that number is greatly exaggerated

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

I gave up trying to listen to that interview when all the whacko theories about Atlantis, Mu and even Troy started coming out. I can buy the idea that the Chinese had trading fleets all over the Pacific and Indian oceans in the 14th/early 15th centuries -- the other weird stuff just polluted the message.

 

[wew]

...


The question I often ponder is if he actually was disregarding the well-established diameter of the world (work done by Ptolomey centuries before) and really held the belief he was going to the orient, or was he selling a bill of goods to his benefactors and exploring what he knew was a "new" land mass?

Ptolemy actually screwed up the diameter/circumference of the earth. Erastothenes actually figured out the rough circumference, I believe he was about 200-400 miles off. Ptolemy's ideas actually encouraged Columbus to take the western route.

 

[CorporalClegg]

A few million people "discovered" it thousands of years before he "discovered" it.

A "few million"? I'm afraid that number is greatly exaggerated

Seeing as how in 500 bc there was still less than 100 million people world wide...