who actually discovered america? don't tell columbus/amerigo.i have heard abt indian civilization-maya?

Question

did they existed in pre columbus times? if yes,then why is it said that columbus discovered america?

Answer 1

It depends on your definition of discover... if by discover you mean the first people to see a place then it would probably be the ancestors of the inuit who crossed the Bering Straight around 20,000 B.C.E. The Mayans did not develop into a distinct culture until almost 19,000 years later. Then came the Vikings off the coast of New Foundland around 1000 C.E. Then some say the Chinese made contact in 1421 off the western coast of what is today California. Then of course you have Columbus who re-discovered the new world for the Europeans...

Answer 2

It is estimated by most historians that the original discoverers of the continent of the Americas were the ancestors of the American Indians whom the Europeans encounted in 1492.
They were supposed to come about 20,000-10,000 B.C. , crossing the Berring Strait which had a land bridge, from Asia.
During the centuries and millenia they filtered down until they had reach the extreme south. Whilst the Indians north of the Rio Grande were mainly nomadic, there were walled and cliff towns with agriculture in the south west. In Mexico there were the Mayans with their capital at Chitzen Itza. They were destroyed by the Tepanican alliance about the tenth century. There were also the Olmecs with their capital at Teochuan and the Toltecs, which were the basis of the Tepanican alliance with their capital at Tulan. The Aztecs were originally a nomadic people who moved down from the north. They stopped at a sacred tree in 1245 and founded Technochitulan and became members of the Tepanican alliance. They overthrew the alliance and founded their own empire which was know as the empire of the triple alliance(TECHNOCHITULAN:TEXECOCO and TLECOPAN) Their empire was conquered by the Spanish at the time of Montezuma II.
In South America were the civilizations of the Mochica and the Chimu. They were conquered by the Inca empire which had risen defending it's overlord against an invasion. When it's overlord collapsed the Incas defeated the invaders and established their empire. They were conquered by the Spanish.
Actually if we are talking about Europeans there are some very interesting stories from history. I read a book once that in the Roman Empire it was rumoured that their was a land beyond the pillars of Hercules. However this was dismissed by the author who recconded that if there was a land hence the centurions would already have gotten there and conquered it. It is interesting to note however that Carthage when it controlled beyond the Pillars of Hercules did not let even a single ship out there. What were they protecting. However it was probably more likely to be their African trade. Also there is a story that some Irish monks sailed in a small boat around 800 A.D. and discovered a land across the Atlantic. The first definite landing came at the hands of Leif Ericson, son of Eric the Red who around the year 1,000 A.D. was recorded as having landed in a land he called VINELAND. This has been identified with NEWFOUNDLAND in Canada. However the reason why Christopher Columbus has been universally given the credit for the "discovery of America" is that from his discovery came the permanent settlement of America by Europeans. And they wrote the histories. However it is now being acknowledged that although Christopher Columbus has been acknowledge such, that others got there before him.
Hope this helps.

Answer 3

Columbus initiated the first continuous presence of Europeans in America -- so from the European perspective he "discovered" the New World and that discovery has not since been lost or forgotten.

Leif Ericson actually landed with a band of Vikings in New Foundland several centuries prior to Columbus, but they had no idea where they were (neither did Columbus, for that matter) and never figured it out later. Their "discovery" was totally lost and forgotten until much later.

Answer 4

In the book 1542 the author claims the Chinese actually discovered America first... There has been some holes poked in his theory but the bulk of the book has been regarded as correct.

Answer 5

The paleo Indians that crossed the Bering Strait were the ones that discovered America.

Answer 6

There are probably a zillion answers to this question. Undoubtedly, the first over were the Indians, but no one knows for sure just who they were and how they got here. The answer most accepted is the one about crossing the Bering Straight, with groups wandering further and further into the country and into S. America. However to throw some water onto that fire, in Equador there are pottery pieces that indicate a pottery made that is virtually the same as the Jomon pottery of Japan. If I am not wrong, that pottery comes from the Northern most island of Japan, Hokkaido, which might indicate that there were voyages from there into S. America.

In a book entitled AMERICA BC, there is evidence (if you want to call it that) that there were ancient Celts in America a long time ago since some of those sites have aspects to Ogam, the writing of the Celts. That book, written by Barry Fell, a Biologist from Harvard was followed by another by him that brought up more things. He is not accepted by many authorities, but the stories are interesting and he presents a good case.

In a book entitled THE MAN WHO LED COLUMBUS TO AMERICA by Paul Chapman (whom I personally know) brings up a voyage by St. Brendan, an Irish Monk, who might have touched N. America.

Another book, also by someone I personally knew until she died, Zella Armstrong, tells the story of Madoc who is supposed to have landed in the Gulf of Mexico. Madoc came from Wales and was basically pushed out of Wales because he was the the illegitimate son of a Welsh King. He left Wales in 1170 (or so) with a group and that group expanded all over the SE US. This story is made more interesting when you take into consideration tht one of the orders given to Lewis and Clark was to find the Welsh Indians and they wintered with the Mandans in the Northern Missouri River area where they recorded several cognates from the Welsh language.

Then, of course, you have the various stories of Viking discovery, which Paul Chapman expands on. They are better recorded, however, in Icelandic Sagas and they are pretty well accepted.

When the Cherokees arrived in what is now East Tennessee, they ran across a group of people called the Melungeons, who were not white, not black, and not Indian (and possess none of the DNA of any of those groups). There is a plethoa of information about them on the net. You need to read about the CELEBRATED MELUNGEON TRIAL OF HAMILTON COUNTY (TN) where in a Judge Lewis Shepherd, my great aunt's father in law, found that the Melungeons were of Carthagian origin - no one knows where they come from, but they often call themselves "Mountain Portuguese."

Dr. Cyclone Covey in his book CALALUS: A Roman Jewish Colony in America fromt he time of Charlemagne through Alfred the Great speaks of a Roman Jewish Colony in the SW US, which would place them before Madoc, Brendan, and the Vikings. Dr. Covey, and Cyclone is his first name, taught at Wake Forest University and was a good friend of mine also.

When considering the legitimacy of any of the above stories, you have to consider the trade winds of the Atlantic and Pacific. Columbus certainly rode them and the natural progression would be that once you have exited the Straights of Gibraltar, you would catch a wind that drove you south and across the Atlantic and then you caught the Gulf Stream and headed North, so anybody could have been capable of getting lost and ending up here.

Basically the same type of trade wind loops from the Asian coast and will bring you to the NW US and probably ride you down to the SW US (California), so who got here when is up for grabs.

The eminent Harvard Historian, Samuel Eliot Morrison, who wrote COLUMBUS ADMIRAL OF THE OCEAN SEA, in defending himself against the other myths, stories, and legends of discovery, spend an enormous amount of time in another book, THE DISCOVERY VOYAGES, debunking all of the other discoverers. Now, however, most scholars think he was a little off key when singing that song.

I got involved in discovery voyages about 20 or so years back and reseached every one of them. In the process, I sought out many of the authors mentioned above and became friends of theirs. I had grown up knowing Zella Armstrong, but never knew she had written that book. Barry Fell and I spend hours on the phone talking about these things. Cyclone Covey and I met on several occasions and had numerous phone conversations. Of all of the above books, Zella Armstrong's is the best documented and the departure of Madoc is recorded in Wales as is his arrival to pick up more passengers. After the second departure, he disappears from history.

Answer 7

Yes, the paleo dudes, from Mongolia, that´s why some mayans have asian type eyes, in fact all the meso and south american tribes/civilizations

Answer 8

Mongoloid bandits were driven out of Asia into Alaska, from where they went south. Other waves of fugitives came across. The Whites were only the last wave, no worse than the others. In fact, a lot better, because they stopped the tribal warfare, being more interested in building than fighting.

Answer 9

the answer to your question is lost in antiquity. the world has been around a long, long time. civilizations have come and gone. there is some indication that egyptians and minoans visited north america.

Answer 10

Your third answerer "lifeasaku" has your basic correct answer.