Italian sailors knew of America 150 years before Christopher Columbus, new analysis of ...

[Jim__]

... ancient documents suggests.

From phys.org:

New analysis of ancient writings suggests that sailors from the Italian hometown of Christopher Columbus knew of America 150 years before its renowned 'discovery'.

Transcribing and detailing a, circa, 1345 document by a Milanese friar, Galvaneus Flamma, Medieval Latin literature expert Professor Paolo Chiesa has made an "astonishing" discovery of an "exceptional" passage referring to an area we know today as North America.

According to Chiesa, the ancient essay—first discovered in 2013—suggests that sailors from Genoa were already aware of this land, recognizable as 'Markland'/ 'Marckalada' – mentioned by some Icelandic sources and identified by scholars as part of the Atlantic coast of North America (usually assumed to be Labrador or Newfoundland).

Published in the peer-reviewed journal Terrae Incognitae, the discovery comes ahead of Columbus Day 2021, alternatively celebrated as Indigenous Peoples' Day across many states in the US. The findings add more fuel to the fire for the continuing question of 'what, exactly, did Columbus expect to find when he set out across the ocean?' and come following a period in which his statues have been beheaded, covered with red paint, lassoed around the head and pulled down, set on fire and thrown into a lake.

more ...

[alittlelark]

1. The Moors knew 1000 yrs before them.

But lets just let us white ppl feel good fort a few moments........................................................................I feel so much better.

[HotRod Deluxe]

13. It wasn't the Moors...

It was the Moops! (Hope you're familiar w/Seinfeld)

[Igel]

14. And everything worth discovering

was discovered by Soviet scientists in the '50s and '60s. But printed in Russian, so nobody knows.

Like radio. Not Marconi, but Markonskiy.

[COL Mustard]

16. Old Joke:

An American sprinter and a Soviet sprinter are facing off in a bid to settle who is the fastest man. The American wins by 1.5 seconds.

NYT headline: "American sprinter easily outdistances Soviet for fastest man title"
Pravda headline: "Soviet sprinter places second in race for fastest man. American sprinter comes in next to last"

[3Hotdogs]

2. Anybody who had been at sea could have figured out the world was round.

Watching a ship go over the horizon... if the world was flat, the entirety of the ship would have been seen, getting smaller and smaller. Instead, the last thing you would see is the masts, then the top of the masts.

[rickford66]

3. The disagreements back then was the size of the Earth ....

not whether it was flat or round. Columbus assumed a smaller Earth than the Portuguese. Even the Greeks figured the size closer.

[keithbvadu2]

4. Flat earth?

[keithbvadu2]

5. CC applying for the grant. He got it.

CC applying for the grant. He got it.

[thenelm1]

8. And some elements of the Norse had a settlement in New Foundland..

at L'Anse aux Meadows, albeit temporary, for some few hundred years before to 1492 as well. Did some of these folk go further west?

It's been years since reading the book, but I remember Maine author Bill Caldwell writing about there being British and Basque fishermen probably knowing of and visiting the rich fishing grounds of the Grand Banks off Newfoundland prior to, or about the time of, Cabot's voyages to the east coast as well.

[FuzzyRabbit]

9. The Irish also: The Brendan Voyage

https://lookingnorth.blog/2020/07/the-brendan-voyage/

In the 6th-century, an Irish monk named St. Brendan wrote the Navigatio Sancti Brendani Abbatis (The Voyage of St. Brendan the Abbot), a document describing a westward sea journey to the “promised land” that some believe was North America. The journey included numerous stops at islands along the way, and he described seeing fantastic sights and creatures from aboard his medieval “skin boat.” Although some scholars interpret the monk’s manuscript figuratively, others subscribe to the belief that it is more travelogue than fable. That question is at the heart of The Brendan Voyage, [Tim] Severin’s project to recreate St. Brendan’s journey and prove that a leather-clad sailboat could successfully traverse the North Atlantic.

[AllaN01Bear]

10. the chinese and their treasure fleet.

[The Jungle 1]

11. Columbus was a filthy pig who worked slaves to death and had preteens as sex toys.

Why do we honor this scum of humanity.

[marble falls]

12. Does it matter? First or last, Columbus was an unmitigated disaster for Caribbean ...

Amerindians and followed by a succession of other disastrous "explorers" all over the "New World".

[niyad]

15. . . .

[raccoon]

17. I read a book called THEY ALL DISCOVERED AMERICA by

Charles Michael Boland, published in 1961.

It discusses various theories about pre-Colombian exploration in the Americas, about the ones y’all have mentioned and also for others, Romans, Welsh, etc.

The evidence in some cases is flimsy. And of course, Lanse aux Meadows was found after the book was published. Still, it’s an interesting read if you’re into this kind of stuff.