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Chinese Explorers 'Discovered America'?

Posted by michael on from the native-americans-don't-count dept.

FLY9999 writes: "According to British historian and map expert Gavin Menzies, Chinese explorers discovered America way before Columbus did. He will disclose his information to the prestigious Royal Geographical Society (RGS) at a conference next week."

2 of 716 comments (clear)

  1. Re:*Everybody* discovered America befoer Columbus. by pbranes · · Score: 2, Redundant
    I guess different schools teach different ways, but when I was in elementary and middle school, we learned at that time that the Vikings came to America first, but after their initial attempt, did not establish a permanent settlement. We have all known for years that Columbus didn't discover America. I believe that he is still important for a couple of reasons
    • columbus made this discovery known to everyone
    • chinese/vikings/etc. may have discovered america first, but their goal at the time was not expansion and gold
    • when vikings discovered america, the western world had not even begun the renaissance yet, which means that even if the vikings had told everyone, no one would have cared

    Basically, Columbus wasn't the first, but he had the biggest impact on history.
  2. Actualy American Indians discovered it first.... by richieb · · Score: 1, Redundant
    A bunch of rather brave people who crossed over from Asia and first settled the Americas were the original discovers.

    BTW, was it Pocohantas that discovered Europe?

    --
    ...richie - It is a good day to code.