Who Discovered America

America had often been discovered before Columbus, but it had always been hushed up. The above line by famous Irish novelist, Oscar Wilde makes an important point about discovery of America. The claims about discoveries hold very less significance in today's world where, even scientific theories of Darwin are being challenged. Questions like who discovered what and other such are important, just from the point of maintaining records. However, whatever facts we have with us act as links of a broke chain to reach a consensus on these discoveries. Let us try to understand who discovered America and when.

Who Discovered America First?
It is common belief that Christopher Columbus discovered America. This fact however, can neither be ruled out nor accepted blindly. In the October of 1492, Columbus reached the shores of America while he was in search of India. Some people claim that it was not the mainland of America that Columbus reached in 1492. The place was actually the island of Bahamas. Columbus returned to Spain after this voyage. Later on in 1497, Amerigo Vespucci, another Italian explorer discovered America. Martin Waldseemuller first named this huge land mass as America. But one cannot say it for sure that Columbus and Amerigo Vespucci were the only people who had first discovered this huge continent. Chinese people claim that they had discovered America long before the voyages of Europeans sailors. So who really discovered America? The information about voyages of people other than Columbus and Amerigo Vespucci is presented below.

Who Discovered America before Christopher Columbus?
Many people had reached the continent of America before Columbus. The people from Asia reached America thousands of years before Columbus and became its inhabitants. Norse expeditions to America had begun much before 1492 AD i.e. in 986 AD. These expeditions were initiated by Bjarni Herjolfsson. It is said that Herjolfsson started off from Iceland and was heading towards Greenland. He lost his way due to a storm and the ship drifted southwards. Accidentally, he came to view a land with low-lying hills covered in vegetation. However, Herjolfsson was more interested in finding his way back to Greenland; he thereby, abandoned the thought of visiting the land. Leif Ericsson who read the official report of Bjarni Herjolfsson's voyage decided to find the New World. With his crew of 35 people, Ericsson is said to have reached what is today's L'Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland, Canada. The remains of a viking-type settlement were found by archaeologists in Canada (1963). These remains are believed to be about 1000 years old. This provides a strong evidence in support of claims that America was found by Norse explorers much before Columbus. Most expeditions prior to the period of Columbus were not documented properly. The absence of any runic inscriptions in North America raises doubts about claims of Norse explorers. However, it is said that these explorers recounted their voyages and were not interested in inscribing them. As per some records, the Chinese Admiral Zheng was the first to discover America. It is however, said that these claims cannot be considered true since, none of Admiral Zheng's voyages went beyond the Indian Ocean.

The records of Asians reaching North America in 499 BC have been found in the documents dated 629 AD. A Buddhist monk from China named Hai-Shen is said to have reached North America. Hai-Shen reached a fabled land of Fu-Sang after traveling 6,600 to the east. Interestingly, the description of the land of Fu-Sang by Hai Shen greatly resembles North America. Although these records are not considered as solid evidence, they have opened another door of opportunity for historians who are looking for the true discoverer of America. There are few other discoveries which support the claim that Asians had reached America before Columbus. For example, Japanese swords were found in Alaska and Chinese coins were recovered from British Columbia.

Discovery of America
If we set the question about discovery of America aside for sometime, it can definitely be say that Columbus took the world into a new age of colonialism. The event of Columbus and Amerigo Vespucci reaching this new continent opened many opportunities which led Europeans towards economic prosperity. The vast land mass of America remained unexplored and was not exploited till then; it marked the beginning of a new era. The New World, as America is often referred to, was inhabited by Red Indians before the arrival of European settlers. Europeans took over this land and started their own rule. In the mean time, thousands of native Americans were killed in the genocide carried out by Europeans settlers. It was one of the cruelest period in the history of mankind.

No matter what the consequences of finding the New World were, it is important to know more about Christopher Columbus and his attempts to find the New World. Christopher Columbus was born in the year circ. 1435 in Genoa, Italy. He took great interest in subjects like geography, astronomy and cosmology from early days. In those days, sailors were not able to take their ships into deeper seas due to lack of proper navigation tools. The developments which took place in the field of navigation tools proved to be useful in undertaking long trips in the ocean. The Astrolabe was such a tool that helped in finding the sun's altitude and the ship's distance from equator. These developments encouraged sailors to go for longer voyages which earlier could not be undertaken. Columbus reached what he believed as the New World (actually the island of San Salvador) on 12th October, 1492. However, this discovery of the island was the first step in the process of finding the New World. Read more on facts about Christopher Columbus.

If we go by common beliefs, Christopher Columbus should be credited for the discovery of America. However, considering the facts and data mentioned above, the question, who discovered America first remains unanswered. Earlier, one had to rely on certain, specific sources of information about discoveries. However, the interaction of different cultures and societies of the world have led to the discovery of hidden truths and facts that were just hushed up till date. Therefore, the question who discovered America first, might raise a number of questions in order to find more truths and facts that stay buried under thick layers of time.