Coming to America: Who Was First?
Christopher Columbus, the Italian, gets the credit for being the first to land on these shores. His voyage across the Atlantic, funded by the Spanish monarchy, is all too well documented.
Does Columbus deserve it? A host of competing theories say no. Here are a few of the more prominent ones:
1. 12000 BC: The Siberians: The settlement of the Americas began when Paleolithic hunter-gatherers entered North America from the North Asian steppes via the Beringia land bridge, which had formed between northeastern Siberia and western Alaska due to the lowering of sea level during the Last Glacial Period.
Indigenous peoples of the Americas have been linked to Siberian populations by linguistic factors, the distribution of blood types, and in genetic composition as reflected by DNA data.
2. Sixth Century — Irish Monks: This "theory" is actually more of a legend. A sixth-century Irish monk named Saint Brendan supposedly sailed to North America on a currach — a wood-framed boat covered with animal skin. His alleged journey is detailed in the ancient annals of Ireland. Brendan was a real historical figure who traveled extensively in Europe. But there is no evidence that he ever made landfall in North America.
In 1976, writer Tim Severin set out to prove that such a journey was possible. Severin built the Brendan, an exact replica of a sixth-century currach, and sailed along a route described by the traveling monks. He eventually landed in Canada.
3. Tenth Century — The Vikings: The Vikings' early expeditions to North America are well documented and accepted as historical fact by most scholars. Around the year 1000 A.D., the Viking explorer Leif Erikson sailed to a place he called "Vinland," in what is now the Canadian province of Newfoundland.
Exploration was a family business for Leif Erikson . His father, Erik the Red, founded the first European settlement of Greenland. Leif Erikson, who is believed to have been born in Iceland around A.D. 970, spent his formative years in desolate Greenland.
After crossing the Atlantic, the Vikings encountered a rocky, barren land in present-day Canada. Erikson bestowed upon the land the name Helluland, Norwegian for “Stone Slab Land.” Researchers believe this location could possibly have been Baffin Island. The Norsemen then voyaged south to a timber-rich location they called Markland (Forestland), most likely in present-day Labrador, before finally setting up a base camp likely on the northern tip of the island of Newfoundland.
The Vikings spent an entire winter there and benefitted from the milder weather compared to their homeland in Greenland. They explored the surrounding region abounding with lush meadows, rivers teeming with salmon, and wild grapes so suitable for wine that Erikson called the region Vinland (Wineland).
After spending the winter in Vinland, Erikson and his crew sailed home to windswept Greenland with badly needed timber and plentiful portions of grapes. Erikson, who would succeed Erik the Red as chief of the Greenland settlement after his father’s death, never returned to North America, but other Vikings continued to sail west to Vinland for at least the ensuing decade. In spite of North America’s more bountiful resources, the Viking settlers remained in desolate Greenland. This was perhaps due to the violent encounters they had with the indigenous population of North America.
Archaeologists have unearthed evidence that supports the sagas’ stories of the Norse expeditions to America. In 1960, Norwegian explorer Helge Ingstad scoured the coasts of Labrador and Newfoundland for signs of a possible settlement, and he found it on the northernmost tip of Newfoundland at L’Anse aux Meadows. The remains of the Norse village are now part of a UNESCO World Heritage site.
While Columbus is honored with a federal holiday, the man considered to be the leader of the first European expedition to North America has not been totally forgotten. In 1964, a proclamation by the US Congress declared October 9 to be Leif Erikson Day in honor of the Viking explorer. October 9 was chosen because it is the anniversary of the 1825 arrival in New York of the ship Restauration, which carried the first organized band of Norwegian immigrants to the United States.
4. Eleventh Century - Polynesians: Another population that probably visited America way before Columbus are the Polynesians. The main clue for this behavior is the inconspicuous sweet potato (yam).
The oldest sweet potato evidence in the Pacific hails back to about 1,000 A.D. — 500 years before Columbus sailed to the Americas. But it wasn’t a convincing enough proof, so it remained as a hunch more than anything else.
French scientists found better samples from a herbarium collected by early European explorers. Through genetic analysis, they were able to show that Polynesians took the sweet potatoes from America and spread them across Southeast Asia and the Pacific, where they are now ubiquitous. There are also studies which link Brazilian DNA to that of Polynesians. It seems very likely that Polynesians did reach America and established some kind of trade route.
Another intriguing analysis on Peruvian mummies found that at least one such mummy had been embalmed using resin from a tree that only grew only in Oceania and New Guinea. Both the mummy and the tree were dated to 1200 AD.
5. 15th Century — The Chinese: This theory is espoused by a small group of scholars and amateur historians led by Gavin Menzies, a retired British Naval officer. It asserts that a Chinese mariner from the Ming Dynasty discovered America — 71 years before Columbus. Zheng He was a historical figure, who commanded a huge armada of wooden sailing vessels in the early 15th century. He explored Southeast Asia, India and the east coast of Africa using navigational techniques that were, at the time, cutting edge.
Menzies, in his best-selling 2003 book, 1421: The Year China Discovered America, asserts that Zheng He sailed to the east coast of the United States, and may have established settlements in South America. Menzies based his theory on evidence from old shipwrecks, Chinese and European maps, and accounts written by navigators of the time.
So, the sum and substance of it is that Anerica seems to have been discovered by several peoples in the past. But Christopher Columbus gets the credit because his expedition led to the eventual colonization of America by Europeans.
Does Columbus deserve it? A host of competing theories say no. Here are a few of the more prominent ones:
1. 12000 BC: The Siberians: The settlement of the Americas began when Paleolithic hunter-gatherers entered North America from the North Asian steppes via the Beringia land bridge, which had formed between northeastern Siberia and western Alaska due to the lowering of sea level during the Last Glacial Period.
Indigenous peoples of the Americas have been linked to Siberian populations by linguistic factors, the distribution of blood types, and in genetic composition as reflected by DNA data.
2. Sixth Century — Irish Monks: This "theory" is actually more of a legend. A sixth-century Irish monk named Saint Brendan supposedly sailed to North America on a currach — a wood-framed boat covered with animal skin. His alleged journey is detailed in the ancient annals of Ireland. Brendan was a real historical figure who traveled extensively in Europe. But there is no evidence that he ever made landfall in North America.
In 1976, writer Tim Severin set out to prove that such a journey was possible. Severin built the Brendan, an exact replica of a sixth-century currach, and sailed along a route described by the traveling monks. He eventually landed in Canada.
3. Tenth Century — The Vikings: The Vikings' early expeditions to North America are well documented and accepted as historical fact by most scholars. Around the year 1000 A.D., the Viking explorer Leif Erikson sailed to a place he called "Vinland," in what is now the Canadian province of Newfoundland.
Exploration was a family business for Leif Erikson . His father, Erik the Red, founded the first European settlement of Greenland. Leif Erikson, who is believed to have been born in Iceland around A.D. 970, spent his formative years in desolate Greenland.
After crossing the Atlantic, the Vikings encountered a rocky, barren land in present-day Canada. Erikson bestowed upon the land the name Helluland, Norwegian for “Stone Slab Land.” Researchers believe this location could possibly have been Baffin Island. The Norsemen then voyaged south to a timber-rich location they called Markland (Forestland), most likely in present-day Labrador, before finally setting up a base camp likely on the northern tip of the island of Newfoundland.
The Vikings spent an entire winter there and benefitted from the milder weather compared to their homeland in Greenland. They explored the surrounding region abounding with lush meadows, rivers teeming with salmon, and wild grapes so suitable for wine that Erikson called the region Vinland (Wineland).
After spending the winter in Vinland, Erikson and his crew sailed home to windswept Greenland with badly needed timber and plentiful portions of grapes. Erikson, who would succeed Erik the Red as chief of the Greenland settlement after his father’s death, never returned to North America, but other Vikings continued to sail west to Vinland for at least the ensuing decade. In spite of North America’s more bountiful resources, the Viking settlers remained in desolate Greenland. This was perhaps due to the violent encounters they had with the indigenous population of North America.
Archaeologists have unearthed evidence that supports the sagas’ stories of the Norse expeditions to America. In 1960, Norwegian explorer Helge Ingstad scoured the coasts of Labrador and Newfoundland for signs of a possible settlement, and he found it on the northernmost tip of Newfoundland at L’Anse aux Meadows. The remains of the Norse village are now part of a UNESCO World Heritage site.
While Columbus is honored with a federal holiday, the man considered to be the leader of the first European expedition to North America has not been totally forgotten. In 1964, a proclamation by the US Congress declared October 9 to be Leif Erikson Day in honor of the Viking explorer. October 9 was chosen because it is the anniversary of the 1825 arrival in New York of the ship Restauration, which carried the first organized band of Norwegian immigrants to the United States.
4. Eleventh Century - Polynesians: Another population that probably visited America way before Columbus are the Polynesians. The main clue for this behavior is the inconspicuous sweet potato (yam).
The oldest sweet potato evidence in the Pacific hails back to about 1,000 A.D. — 500 years before Columbus sailed to the Americas. But it wasn’t a convincing enough proof, so it remained as a hunch more than anything else.
French scientists found better samples from a herbarium collected by early European explorers. Through genetic analysis, they were able to show that Polynesians took the sweet potatoes from America and spread them across Southeast Asia and the Pacific, where they are now ubiquitous. There are also studies which link Brazilian DNA to that of Polynesians. It seems very likely that Polynesians did reach America and established some kind of trade route.
Another intriguing analysis on Peruvian mummies found that at least one such mummy had been embalmed using resin from a tree that only grew only in Oceania and New Guinea. Both the mummy and the tree were dated to 1200 AD.
5. 15th Century — The Chinese: This theory is espoused by a small group of scholars and amateur historians led by Gavin Menzies, a retired British Naval officer. It asserts that a Chinese mariner from the Ming Dynasty discovered America — 71 years before Columbus. Zheng He was a historical figure, who commanded a huge armada of wooden sailing vessels in the early 15th century. He explored Southeast Asia, India and the east coast of Africa using navigational techniques that were, at the time, cutting edge.
Menzies, in his best-selling 2003 book, 1421: The Year China Discovered America, asserts that Zheng He sailed to the east coast of the United States, and may have established settlements in South America. Menzies based his theory on evidence from old shipwrecks, Chinese and European maps, and accounts written by navigators of the time.
So, the sum and substance of it is that Anerica seems to have been discovered by several peoples in the past. But Christopher Columbus gets the credit because his expedition led to the eventual colonization of America by Europeans.
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