"They All Discovered America"--I'm now re-reading this.

[raccoon]

It's about pre-columbian explorers who reached the Americas. There's a chapter on Phoenicians, Romans, a Chinese explorer, Irish monks, Prince Madoc of Wales, and others. Evidence for some is pretty thin, but it makes interesting reading.

The book was published in 1961, so I'm sure there has been updated information either supporting or discrediting some of the information in the book. For instance, L'Anse aux Meadows, a Viking settlement in Newfoundland, isn't mentioned in the book, although there are many chapters on Viking explorers. L'Anse aux Meadows was discovered about the time this book went to print.(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L_Anse_Aux_Meadows )

FYI, the book's publication information is:
Boland, Charles M. They All Discovered America. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1961. 384 pages.

If anyone out there can recommend any books regarding pre-columbian exploration of the Americas, please chime in.

[msongs]

1. there is no such thing as a native american. everyone immigrated at some point nt

[Jackpine Radical]

2. Wow, I read that book many years ago.

Are you familiar with Charles Hapgood?


Maps of the Ancient Sea Kings: Evidence of Advanced Civilization in the Ice Age by Charles H. Hapgood (Paperback - Jan 1997)

Also see his Bronze Age America (unfortunately out of print)

And check out Frank Joseph. He publishes a magazine called Ancient American, and has written a number of books on the theme of ancient contacts with the Americas.

[eppur_se_muova]

3. Well, I'm *assuming* you already know about "1421"...

One of the works cited in that book is "When China Ruled the Seas" by Levathes. Very interesting reading, if you have trouble seeing how a Chinese discovery of America is plausible. I actually read this back in the 90's, long before "1421" was published, so I was 'softened up' for "1421" and found it much easier to read as a result.

http://www.amazon.com/When-China-Ruled-Seas-1405-1433/d...

You might also enjoy "Voyage of the Brendan" and "The Voyage of the Matthew: John Cabot and the Discovery of America". Some of the background to Basque claims is in Kurlansky's "A Basque History of the World", but kind of scant, since written records apparently were suppressed.

[raccoon]

5. Thanks for the suggestions. nt

[Yupster]

6. I just finished the sequel -- 1434

Quite amazing claims he makes. It's hard to tell what will stand up to peer review.

If much stands up, history will have to be rewritten heavily.

[bhikkhu]

4. 1491 is more pertinent

All the early explorer tales are interesting in a way, and many are probably true, but had little effect on anything. I read 1491 recently and it is like a window on another world in a way none of the others are. A useful redirection.

[raccoon]

7. Who wrote it? nt

[bhikkhu]

8. Sorry - Charles Mann, published 2005

One of the more interesting ideas, combining this author's perspective with that of "Guns, Germs and Steel", is that any isolated population develops distinct immune system variants adapted to their environment and local contagions. Then, any substantial contact between any two isolated populations leaves its mark on both populations, which we can examine in the "haplotype" record of the immune system. All indications from this are that the Americas were well isolated, and there was no substantial contact before 1492.

[pscot]

9. I read 1491

last spring, and was thoroughly impressed. Some of Mann's population estimates are controversial, mainly because they refute the Eurocentric view that early settlers occupied a pristine wilderness sparsly populated by primitive savages. Mann argues that that there were more than 120 million native Americans, possessing varying degrees of social organization, some,like Moundbuilders and Maya, quite complex. According to Mann, these populations were devastated by diseases spread by the earliest explores, Pizarro and Cortez and the Roanoke and Jamestown settlements. By the time the subsequent waves of settlers show up, native populations had collapsed under the onslaught of diseases for which they had no built in resistance and no remedy. Mann believes that this holocaust killed millions, leaving native farms and villages and cities barren and deserted. Mann shatters some of the comfortable, popular myths about the age of discovery, and postulates a level of Native American social organization far older and more widespread than is generally believed. There'sa lot of information here, but the writing is coloquial rather than pedantic. This book will make you think. Read it at your peril.

[bhikkhu]

10. I agree - and in the context of the OP it has great significance

...in that there could not have been both a large and immunologically isolated population in the America's prior to 1491, as the book argues, and any significant pre-1491 contacts with Eurasian explorers.

As the evidence points strongly to a "high count" of pre-columbian population, the significance of pre-columbian contacts fades. Perhaps a boat here or there, but nothing of real consequence.