Who else discovered the Americas before Columbus?

[Dodge]

All right So far I have read about the Vikings, the Chinese, the Portugese, The Egyptians and the Basques whom are said to have discovered the New world before 1492. And altough I do not believe 'em all I am curious whom are also said to have been there before them.

[Lov3ll]

I think the knights templar were supposed to have buried some gold in Canada p-)

[jetsetter]

All right So far I have read about the Vikings, the Chinese, the Portugese, The Egyptians and the Basques whom are said to have discovered the New world before 1492. And altough I do not believe 'em all I am curious whom are also said to have been there before them.

Well, the Viking discovery actually has solid proof behind it. The Chinese, Portuguese, Egyptian, and Basques claims have substantially less if not no evidence behind them.

[Loki77]

Who else discovered the Americas before Columbus?


Leif Erikson(Leifr Eiríksson)...

http://img64.imageshack.us/img64/8052/59149717img2824bba6.jpg

[mas-36]

hmmm....my wife is Wyandot, and she would say that the first ones to discover what would later become "America" were the Indians.

[Hollis]

Leif Erikson(Leifr Eiríksson)...








Who else? All the people who where living in the Americas. They did not have any problems finding where they lived.

[Robbee]

The Book of Mormon states that a number of Native Americans are descended from Joseph. According to the Book of Mormon, sons of the prophet Lehi founded the Nephite and Lamanite civilizations in the New World.

I remember Morman's coming around to my place and nicely explaining this to me.
(I felt like a chat and let them in)

[name already taken]

Here's a list of interesting sources asserting, debunking or sorting up claims that Christopher Colombus had early predecessors:

the 1421 myth exposed (http://www.1421exposed.com/index.html) (chinese)

Portuguese Discoveries in North America (http://www.thornr.demon.co.uk/kchrist/portam.html) (still being argued)
claim made by Dr. Manuel Luciano da Silva, Portuguese medical doctor who lived in Rhode Island, U.S.A. for the last 40 years (looks like a bit of portugese chauvinism to me)

Pre-Columbian trans-oceanic contact (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pre-Columbian_trans-oceanic_contact)
interactions between the indigenous peoples of the Americas and peoples of other continents – Europe, Africa, Asia, or Oceania – before the arrival of Christopher Columbus in 1492

only a few of them are taken seriously by researchers; only Native American migration from Siberia and the presence of the Norse in present-day Atlantic Canada have been proven for certain.

[[WDW]Megaraptor]

There is evidence that the Incas built a fleet that sailed to Polynesia...I know it's exploration in reverse, but does it count?

[name already taken]

Megaraptor;2476993']There is evidence that the Incas built a fleet that sailed to Polynesia...I know it's exploration in reverse, but does it count?
pm dodge (http://www.militaryphotos.net/forums/member.php?u=33240), he's online

[Violet Fashion by Mindy]

It's possible the Phonecians discovered the Americas.

http://phoenicia.org/carthanewworld.html

http://phoenicia.org/inscriptions.html

They also appear to be linked with Australia

http://phoenicia.org/australia.html

None the less, Carthage was destroyed by the Romans and the main Phoenician cities in the Middle East were wiped out by Alexander. So what ever documentation existed would of no doubt been destroyed.

However, given the Phoenician skill in Navigation and command of the Western Med in antiquity it is highly plausible that they may have ventured into far off lands.

As for archaeological evidence goes there is not much because of the demise of Carthage. However there is aboriginal paintings in Australia depicting "ships" that are dated long before accepted European discovery. As is evidence of UFO's

[James]

http://www.youtube.com/v/xDPkn9LX0rU

[wilhelm]

I remember reading a few years ago that there was the possibility that fishermen from Bristol might have wintered over in Newfoundland in the decade before Columbus a few times, but omitted to tell anyone so as to prevent competition for the rich fishing grounds. Don't know if there is any truth in that...

[mas-36]

In the late 1980s, a construction crew in Boston came across the remains of an old pre-colonial era harbor which had been filled in. Everyone was VERY surprised when excavations revealed artifacts in the form of small pieces of ancient Roman pottery. Everyone went nuts saying that the Romans had arrived first.

It turns out that the shards of pottery were dredged from the Thames in England, near the site of an old Roman settlement. These pieces were picked up with stones to be used as ballast on ships. When the ships arrived in Boston to pickup their freight, the ballast, including the pieces of Roman pottery, were then thrown overboard into the harbor.

Still, there were people who continue to insist on the new theory of Romans arriving first despite the explaination of the ballast stones by maritime/naval historians.

[Bercianp]

Well Portuguese claims may have a chance, they were already at the Azores which is half way to America and Columbus staid there for some time before coming to Spain. Anyway, a lot of people may have "found" America, indians the first ones of course. But Columbus came back to talk about it and opened the gate to european colonization, so he deserves the credit.

[oldsoak]

Twas St Brendan, but he sailed back to Ireland as he missedthe craic

[Hereford]

i think a lot of ancients went to America including Atlantians and Greeks



Henriette Mertz (1898 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1898)-1982 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1982)) was an American (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States) archaeologist, attorney, and researcher of ancient history

1964, The Wine Dark Sea: Homer's Heroic Epic of the North Atlantic

This book traces Homer's Odyssey across the Atlantic to America by means of ocean currents which Homer described which occur in the Atlantic but do not occur in the Mediterranean."

she said the the dark wine sea is actually the Gulf of Mexico.

in her other books relates Greeks to Anasazis:


Some very interesting connections can be found between ancient Hellinic pottery and the Anasazi indians'.
HENRIETTE MERTZ in her Book 'ATLANTIS' presents among other very intersting information the picture of a jar originating from Crete, that was found in the Bimini area of the Bahamas islands.



ENRICO MATTIEVICH's book "JOURNEY TO THE MYTHOLOGICAL HELL-
America's discovery by the Greeks" we find catalogues of Hellinic words in the Chuetsua language of Peru.



the famous German university Heildeberg published in 1987 the German researcher'sN. Josephson book entitled 'GREEK LINGUISTIC ELEMENTS IN THE POLYNESIAN LANGUAGES - GREEK PACIFIC' where we find comparative catalogues between 808 Hellenic words and their corresponding Polynesian ones.
Some of the similarities between the languages are truelly impressive:






GREEK LINGUISTIC ELEMENTS IN THE POLYNESIAN LANGUAGES



http://www.helleniclanguage.gr/images/polynesian%20_language.jpg NORS S. JOSEPHSON HEIDELBERG, 1987223ISBN 3533038289. v

[Opening Batsman]

However there is aboriginal paintings in Australia depicting "ships" that are dated long before accepted European discovery. As is evidence of UFO's

rofl

The ships in the rock paintings are Macassans.

[NEFAS]

Well Portuguese claims may have a chance, they were already at the Azores which is half way to America and Columbus staid there for some time before coming to Spain. Anyway, a lot of people may have "found" America, indians the first ones of course. But Columbus came back to talk about it and opened the gate to european colonization, so he deserves the credit.

Columbus lived in Porto Santo, a small island in the Madeira archipelago (Portuguese territory) of the west coast of Africa, and married a local girl.
I've never heard that he was in the Azores.

[Benny]

In 1493 Columbus was arrested in the Azores when returning from his first voyage to America. I think that was the only time he set foot in the Azores.

Actually Columbus thought all his live that he had discovered China - not America! Does that count?

Benny

Lisbon, Portugal

[grimupnorth]

http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/Misc/mummies.htm

She discovered that the body of Henut Taui contained large quantities of cocaine and nicotine. The surprise was not just that the ancient Egyptians had taken drugs, but that these drugs come from tobacco and coca, plants completly unknown outside the Americas, unheard of until Sir Walter Raleigh introduced smoking from the New World, or until cocaine was imported in the Victorian era.
It was seemingly impossible for the ancient Egyptians to get hold of these substances. And so began the mystery -

[krasnayaarmiya]

hmmm....my wife is Wyandot, and she would say that the first ones to discover what would later become "America" were the Indians.
yup. They were at that time Siberian Asians.

[krasnayaarmiya]

Twas St Brendan, but he sailed back to Ireland as he missedthe craic
Jaysus, sure, boyo

[Violet Fashion by Mindy]

rofl

The ships in the rock paintings are Macassans.

Actually there are paintings of UFO's

And some of the paintings have been dated long before captain cook buddy.

:)

[name already taken]

I remember reading a few years ago that there was the possibility that fishermen from Bristol might have wintered over in Newfoundland in the decade before Columbus a few times, but omitted to tell anyone so as to prevent competition for the rich fishing grounds. Don't know if there is any truth in that...
Same story is told about french Britanny and Normandy fishermen at the same time. In the fishing season and not more.

BTW, I have eastern Quebec lineage nephews who have blond hair Viking look. Not dark siberian indian lineage hair. The're been said to have Basque lineage. Basque who came fishing for centuries.

http://img295.imageshack.us/img295/8526/carteromileauxbasques4vo0.gif

http://img457.imageshack.us/img457/5740/spaceballoe4.gif
http://img457.imageshack.us/img457/5740/spaceballoe4.gif
http://img457.imageshack.us/img457/5740/spaceballoe4.gif
http://img457.imageshack.us/img457/5740/spaceballoe4.gifhttp://img457.imageshack.us/img457/5740/spaceballoe4.gif
http://img457.imageshack.us/img457/5740/spaceballoe4.gifhttp://img457.imageshack.us/img457/5740/spaceballoe4.gifhttp://img457.imageshack.us/img457/5740/spaceballoe4.gif

[IraGlacialis]

There is a possibility that Polynesians may have came and colonized the Americas as well as the Siberians.

[SBL]

The Chinese swear up and down that they discovered the new world some 70 odd years before Columbus. They claim the ships were larger and more advanced than any other ship and One guy claims they had several colonies and interbreeded and influenced the locals, but all this influcence was lost once the Europeans came and destoryed all traces of Chinese culture. The Chinese then claim they burned their grand fleet so they could focus on more immediate problems, namely the mongols.

[Benny]

There's this book named 1421, from Gavin Menzies, that sustains that a large Chinese fleet discovered the American continent sailing around the world.

The fantastic size of these alleged Chinese junks dwarfed Noah's ark!

Quite honestly I wasn't at all convinced, as these claims lacked sufficient scientific evidence. Most importantly: no Chinese historian has agreed with Gavin Menzie's theories.

Benny

[SBL]

There's this book named 1421, from Gavin Menzies, that sustains that a large Chinese fleet discovered the American continent sailing around the world.

The fantastic size of these alleged Chinese junks dwarfed Noah's ark!

Quite honestly I wasn't at all convinced, as these claims lacked sufficient scientific evidence. Most importantly: no Chinese historian has agreed with Gavin Menzie's theories.

Benny

Yeah, I think that last sentence is very telling.
But agreed, I'd take this theory with a grain of rice.p-)

[Pandy]

http://adweek.blogs.com/photos/uncategorized/caveman.jpg

[Opening Batsman]

And some of the paintings have been dated long before captain cook buddy.

:)

Exactly, do you know what a Macassan is?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macassan_contact_with_Australia

[name already taken]

The Kennewick Man (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kennewick_Man)
is the name for the remains (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remains) of a prehistoric (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prehistory) man found on a bank (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stream_bed) of the Columbia River (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbia_River) near Kennewick, Washington (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kennewick%2C_Washington), on July 28 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/July_28), 1996 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1996). The discovery of Kennewick Man was accidental: a pair of spectators at the yearly hydroplane (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydroplane) races found his skull (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_skull) while watching the races

Because of the legal controversy, the english wikipedia doesn't say as much as the french (http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homme_de_Kennewick) wikipedia.

Here's a little excerpt:

Scientific polemic

The discovery of the Kennewick Man brings back the polemic on how the Americas were populated with paleoamericans (http://www.jqjacobs.net/anthro/paleoamericans.html).

Under the "official" and "traditional" versions the first peoples of the New World would have come from South East Asia through the Bering strait 11,500 years ago (Clovis Sites (http://www.umanitoba.ca/faculties/arts/anthropology/manarchnet/chronology/paleoindian/clovis2.html)).

But under "dissenting" and "modern" versions, other peoples from the Japanese archipelago or from Europe, would have landed much before between 16,000 and 24,000 years, maybe eaven earlier (35,000 for the Luzia's (http://www.utexas.edu/courses/stross/ant322m_files/1stpersons.htm) "australoid" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australoid) squeleton, 50,000 for the human presence in the Topper Site (http://allendale-expedition.net/pressreleases/1117pr.html) in United States and 60,000 years for the Pedra Furada (http://www.athenapub.com/10pfurad.htm) prehistoric site in Brazil). Solutrean men (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solutrean) (high Paleolitic, France and Spain ), could also have navigated along the ice field, which then, went down to the latitude of present day Spain.

Other european type squeletons

Bones of the Penon woman (http://www.neara.org/MiscReports/penonwoman.htm) (approx. 13,000 years) discovered near Mexico city also presents europoid characteristics.

The remains of a caucasian type man, partly momified, was found in Spirit Cave (http://www.cabrillo.edu/~crsmith/spiritman.html) in Nevada; he was dated between -11,000 and -8,000 years.

source (http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homme_de_Kennewick#La_pol.C3.A9mique_scientifique)

[socom6]

hmmm....my wife is Wyandot, and she would say that the first ones to discover what would later become "America" were the Indians.

LOL! So true.:)

[Danik]

The Chinese swear up and down that they discovered the new world some 70 odd years before Columbus. They claim the ships were larger and more advanced than any other ship and One guy claims they had several colonies and interbreeded and influenced the locals, but all this influcence was lost once the Europeans came and destoryed all traces of Chinese culture. The Chinese then claim they burned their grand fleet so they could focus on more immediate problems, namely the mongols.

Their ships were larger and more advanced. Believe me I did not spend day and night at a library reading for my research paper about Zheng He's voyages to not know what went on. Its actually a Brit that claimed all this, and the Chinese were more than delighted to accept that they are responsible for discovering America and Australia. They did destroy their fleet, not because of the Mongols though, they had already driven the Mongols from Chinese territory(Zheng He the Admiral was a muslim in the Mongol province of China, he was captured and castrated at age 10 during the war with China) long before the voyages occured, but because the Emperor that ordered them had passed away, as did the Admiral, and the Elders did not approve of the voyages due to their principles, and ofcourse the ass load of money that went into each voyage.



There's this book named 1421, from Gavin Menzies, that sustains that a large Chinese fleet discovered the American continent sailing around the world.

The fantastic size of these alleged Chinese junks dwarfed Noah's ark!

Quite honestly I wasn't at all convinced, as these claims lacked sufficient scientific evidence. Most importantly: no Chinese historian has agreed with Gavin Menzie's theories.

Benny

Dwarfing Noahs ark would be rather impossible, because we dont know how big it was. If you like I can find the measurements of the ships, they were large and had things like water tight compartments and flat bottoms, which made them totaly incapable of sailing the open ocean, puting to rest the theory immediately.

Menzies probably read the historical acount from the Ming She(chinese records from the ming dynasty) and the voyages historian, and found something he could work with. If you read the voyage and what hes basing his theory on, you would be amazed, as it is no more than 8 pages long, and is the most vague of all the voyage accounts. I think hes just a guy trying to make a buck with the Eurobashing club who are more than eager to accept that other civilizations are better than them.

[[WDW]Megaraptor]

Dwarfing Noahs ark would be rather impossible, because we dont know how big it was.

Genesis 6:14-16 (http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=1&chapter=6&version=31)


So make yourself an ark of cypress [c (http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=1&chapter=6&version=31#fen-NIV-152c)] wood; make rooms in it and coat it with pitch inside and out. 15 This is how you are to build it: The ark is to be 450 feet long, 75 feet wide and 45 feet high. [d (http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=1&chapter=6&version=31#fen-NIV-153d)] 16 Make a roof for it and finish [e (http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=1&chapter=6&version=31#fen-NIV-154e)] the ark to within 18 inches [f (http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=1&chapter=6&version=31#fen-NIV-154f)] of the top. Put a door in the side of the ark and make lower, middle and upper decks.

[name already taken]

Megaraptor;2482408'] Genesis 6:14-16 (http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=1&chapter=6&version=31)

There were measurement units if feet, in the Ancient Testament ?



Measures from Antiquity and the Bible (http://users.aol.com/jackproot/met/antbible.html)
Preliminary note : our love for accuracy is quite recent. Don't expect it from our ancestors.
Welcome to the kingdom of fuzziness.
All the units changed, at least slightly, from place to place and from time to time. There won't be too many decimals in the equivalencies given here : keep in mind that many weights for instance were unearthed, but very few were absolutely similar.
After all, compare our weights to those of the Renaissance, only a few centuries away.

[Johnny_H02]

I think the knights templar were supposed to have buried some gold in Canada p-) lol this made me laugh my ass off for some reason.

[name already taken]

I think the knights templar were supposed to have buried some gold in Canada p-)
Since they've been disbanded in the 1100's because they've become richer than the King himself, they've been associated with all kinds of fantastic stories.

They're our ancestors' version of the visitors from outer space.

quite fascinating (http://www.crystalinks.com/templars.html)

[[WDW]Megaraptor]

There were measurement units if feet, in the Ancient Testament ?

There is such a thing as unit conversion, yes...

[name already taken]

Megaraptor;2483337']There is such a thing as unit conversion, yes...
Abd how about precision (http://users.aol.com/jackproot/met/antbible.html) ?

[[WDW]Megaraptor]

Abd how about precision (http://users.aol.com/jackproot/met/antbible.html) ?

from your link...


Originally, the cubit was used - the same as the royal cubit in Egypt. Later, the smaller cubit took over.
Egypt

The basic unit seems to have been the royal cubit or "meh" estimated at 524 mm.

[Danik]

Megaraptor;2482408'] Genesis 6:14-16 (http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=1&chapter=6&version=31)


You got me. I should read the bible more often. If those are the measurments, than the Chinese ships were not bigger, but comparable in size by the high range of the estimates.

[Adam Wilhelm]

Since they've been disbanded in the 1100's because they've become richer than the King himself, they've been associated with all kinds of fantastic stories.

They're our ancestors' version of the visitors from outer space.

quite fascinating (http://www.crystalinks.com/templars.html)

They were disbanded 1312.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knights_Templar

[name already taken]

They were disbanded 1312.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knights_Templar
Quite some time ago.

[[WDW]Megaraptor]

You got me. I should read the bible more often. If those are the measurments, than the Chinese ships were not bigger, but comparable in size by the high range of the estimates.

Incidentally it does disprove those who say Noah's Ark could not have been that size because wooden ships can't be built that big.

[2Sheds_Jackson]

hmmm....my wife is Wyandot, and she would say that the first ones to discover what would later become "America" were the Indians.

heh heh - well, before they were "native Americans" - they were from somewhere else - maybe several places - all a bunch of foreigners. :)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kennewick_Man

[Danik]

Megaraptor;2484370']Incidentally it does disprove those who say Noah's Ark could not have been that size because wooden ships can't be built that big.

Out of curiousity I checked back on a accurate source detailing the voyages(Edward L. Dreyer "Zheng He: China and the Oceans in the Early Ming Dynasty, 1405-1433") He puts the largest of the ships at 440 feet in length by 180 feet in width, basically the size of the Ark. I also recently heard of some super transport ships that romans built which are lying on the seabed of the med sea http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6146592.stm but its only 100ft long. Guess only Noah and the Chinese knew how to keep it ril'.

[udt87]

From what I've pieced together from the History Channel was the people to first discover the "New World" were the Russians and Chinese around 30,000 B.C. Apparently that's when "Cave Men" migreated across some gigantic ice sheet during the Ice Age. I seriously have no idea if that's fact or not.

[velvet-cream]

heh heh - well, before they were "native Americans" - they were from somewhere else - maybe several places - all a bunch of foreigners. :)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kennewick_Man

Yeah, but that won't change the point that they were there before Columbus visited.

[pedro_rafael]

Well, the Incas are said to have discovered Polinesia and beyond. Verbal Traditions in the Islands also tell of a great King Tupac that came from the great waters in ships. Ceremonies are still held in his honor.


Tangaroa Voyage - 2006
http://armoreddefense.com/gallery/albums/Semper-Fidelis-MGP/Tangaroa_0001_travel_from_Peru_to_Polinesia_2006_courtesy_of_Somos.jpg


Figthing the Waves
http://armoreddefense.com/gallery/albums/Semper-Fidelis-MGP/Tangaroa_0002_fighting_the_waves_of_the_Ocean_Pacific_2006_courtesy_of_Somos.jpg


The Crew - Norwegians, a Swede and a Peruvian
http://armoreddefense.com/gallery/albums/Semper-Fidelis-MGP/Tangaroa0003_crew_of_Tangaroa_Norwegians_a_Swede_and_a_PEruvian_Roberto_Sala_2nd_from_the_left.jpg

Images courtesy of Somos Magazine


So, appearantly, the New Continent wasn't so new, and did'nt need - not that bad - to be 'Discovered'.

Regards,

[sct1886]

What we really know of history is more limited than what many "historians" will ever admit. There was a caucasian skeleton found underwater 5 miles back in a cave in Mexico, it was dated about 12,000 or 13,000 years old. They also found a caucasian skeleton in Washington state that was roughly the same age. A few years ago near Jefferson City, Missouri a series of large circular grooves in solid granite were found during road building. The grooves were determined to be depressions made to hold support structure for buildings. They were determined to also be 10,000 years plus roughly. My question was how did they cut the grooves? Native Americans supposedly possesed only copper tools. With great effort and time they obviously could have done so. Never the less ancient civilizations were more advanced, complex and widespread than we will ever know.

[loganinkosovo]

All right So far I have read about the Vikings, the Chinese, the Portugese, The Egyptians and the Basques whom are said to have discovered the New world before 1492. And altough I do not believe 'em all I am curious whom are also said to have been there before them.

The Irish knew of the cod banks off newfoundland and fished them long before the vikings and St. Brendan traveled there over 300 years before the Vikings in the early 500s.

http://www.castletown.com/brendan.htm

[name already taken]

What we really know of history is more limited than what many "historians" will ever admit. There was a caucasian skeleton found underwater 5 miles back in a cave in Mexico, it was dated about 12,000 or 13,000 years old. They also found a caucasian skeleton in Washington state that was roughly the same age. A few years ago near Jefferson City, Missouri a series of large circular grooves in solid granite were found during road building. The grooves were determined to be depressions made to hold support structure for buildings. They were determined to also be 10,000 years plus roughly. My question was how did they cut the grooves? Native Americans supposedly possesed only copper tools. With great effort and time they obviously could have done so. Never the less ancient civilizations were more advanced, complex and widespread than we will ever know.
I'd agree but here's where some historians are getting at:

According to Charles C. Mann (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1491:_New_Revelations_of_the_Americas_Before_Columbus) and many others, the Precolumbian civilisations were as much populated and complex as Europe at the time Francisco Pizarro conquered the Inca empire in search of gold.

This picture of Machu Picchu below gives some hint about this.

Also it is admitted since the 1960's that the Inca empire disappeared in a catastrophic epidemy consecutive to the arrival of the Europeans.

So we are left with an european version of this history with no Inca left to make the claim there was a vast and complex empire there beforehand.

And this could be for both americas.

http://img183.imageshack.us/img183/1177/machusp5.jpg

[wilhelm]

The Irish knew of the cod banks off newfoundland and fished them long before the vikings and St. Brendan traveled there over 300 years before the Vikings in the early 500s.

http://www.castletown.com/brendan.htm

This ties in with what I was saying about the fishermen from Bristol who had been fishing there for years, but kept it relatively secret for obvious reasons. Then there is also the old joke that went around Bristol that states that when John Cabot "discovered" Newfoundland, he was probably the only person on board who had never been there before!:)

I believe that travel and trade was far more widespread in ancient times than we realise. Scientifically documented traces of cocaine in an Egyptian mummy ... etc

[futurepilot2004]

St. Brendan traveled there over 300 years before the Vikings in the early 500s.

http://www.castletown.com/brendan.htm

Well there`s absolutly no actual evidence of that and he also claimed to have had a meal on a sleeping sea monsters back so I don`t really think you can take his story too seriously.

[oldsoak]

Well there`s absolutly no actual evidence of that and he also claimed to have had a meal on a sleeping sea monsters back so I don`t really think you can take his story too seriously.

ah, go on....

Tim Severin proved it was possible, and given some of the monks were given to long journeys for quiet places and their ability to produce intoxicating liqours....I reckon yer man had as good a chance as any...:lol:

[futurepilot2004]

ah, go on....

Tim Severin proved it was possible, and given some of the monks were given to long journeys for quiet places and their ability to produce intoxicating liqours....I reckon yer man had as good a chance as any...:lol:

Well its must have been some savage stuff he was taking to come up with that story. Wonder if you can still get it ?:)

[oldsoak]

Well its must have been some savage stuff he was taking to come up with that story. Wonder if you can still get it ?:)

- If you ever find out, give me a shout....

- be funny if America was discovered by a Paddy. Imagine the current occupants having to queue up outside the Irish embassy for "green" cards....
:lol:

[name already taken]

Well there`s absolutly no actual evidence of that and he also claimed to have had a meal on a sleeping sea monsters back so I don`t really think you can take his story too seriously.
Well these sleeping sea monsters were for official consumption only, and fishermen did what fishermen always do: to shut up about their best fishing spots.

Such stories exist about Brittany and Basque fishermen of the time, and both have places named after them near these same cod fishing areas.

[Steaks]

I just read a book called 'Kingdom of ten thousand things'. There was an Afghan monk, Huishen, who apparently fled from Kabul to China and crossed the Pacific to North America 1,000 years before Columbus(AD 458-499). Huishen, Brendan(the irish monk), the vikings, Antonio Zen-who sailed with Henry St. Clair and reached the Atlantic shores of Canada in 1398--- all preceded Columbus who was the last to arrive, but apparently had the biggest mouth.

[Eoin666]

Scientologists............500,000 yrs ago wasn't it