Who Really Discovered America?

Introduction

The aim of this investigation is to challenge conventional knowledge and to shed light on the discovery of the Americas. You could ask anyone on the streets, especially in the United States, if Christopher Columbus indeed discovered America and there would be no hesitation in their answer, “yes”.

Were there any other explorers who may have come across the Americas before Columbus? What caused Columbus to have such a vast impact on the society? This investigation will go further into the aspects of why Columbus’ name is widely recognized and how he had a tremendous impact, when there is evidence that suggests there may have been other explorers who had previously stumbled upon what Columbus is claimed to discover.

The main sources used in this investigation are Christopher Columbus: The Master of the Atlantic written by David A.Thomas, which goes extensively into the facts about Christopher Columbus’ life and accomplishments and the website History, which has an abundance of information and videos on the exploration and discovery of the Americas.

Summary of Evidence

Reaching towards the peak of trade, Europe faced difficulties in trading with Asia due to sections of multiple trade routes being dominated by Muslims. This meant that men were lost and it took a great amount of time to be able to give and receive the products being traded. This was when Christopher Columbus proposed a solution, believing that a route which sailed west through the Atlantic Ocean, would be a much safer and faster way of trading with Asia.

After over six years of proposals to multiple nobles around Europe, Columbus found Queen Isabella and Kind Ferdinand of Spain who offered to fund the voyage, and on Augu...

... middle of paper ...

...an immensely impressive fleet. There is no doubt they were able to travel past Sumatra, India, Iran and the coast of Africa so the same question asked regarding the Polynesians appears, Why would they just stop there? Moreover, there is a map showing the entire world fairly accurately that was drawn in 1763, whose maker wrote that he had copied it from a map drawn in 1418 A.D., centuries earlier. This map and the claim attached to it has not been proven as of yet, however, if it is authentic it would be the first map of the world.

Conclusion

To conclude, despite the possibility of the Americas actually being discovered before it is said to have been discovered, Columbus will always remain as Columbus had a colossal impact due to his actions, which one may say were somewhat greedy.

Thomas, David A. Christopher Columbus: The Master of the Atlantic