When most people think of who discovered America, they usually think of Columbus, right? Almost everyone has learned the rhyme “Columbus sailed the ocean blue in fourteen-hundred-ninety-two” in school. But was Columbus really the one that discovered America? Short answer: no, he wasn’t. The only thing he discovered was that he was a huge asshole. Long answer: Africans actually explored the Americas 170 years before Columbus did. That’s almost two centuries before. And this isn’t just some theory. There is irrefutable evidence that Africans were in the Americas long before Europeans. Which is exactly what Ivan Van Sertima explains in They Came Before Columbus: The African Presence in Ancient America. Van Sertima explains that not only did the …show more content…
He noted that these handkerchiefs were alike, both in function and style as Guinean almayzars. Van Sertima quotes Columbus’ journal in They Came Before Columbus: The African Presence in Ancient America. Columbus writes “...Handkerchiefs of cotton very symmetrically woven and worked in colors like those brought from Guinea, from the rivers of Sierra Leone and of no difference” This is Columbus noting the similarities between Native and African wares. This passage can also imply that there was no difference because the Native Americans received the handkerchiefs from Africans. Regardless, this is evidence that there was interaction between Natives and Africans before Columbus even stepped foot on American land. Van Sertima then goes on to write “Not only were they alike in style and color, but also in function. These handkerchiefs, he said, resembled almayzars - Guinea headdresses and loincloths” Van Sertima is saying that the Native and African handkerchiefs were the same. This is obviously implying that the Natives got the almayzars from African people. Meaning that African and Natives traded before Europeans were in the
If you ask Americans, who discovered America? they will tell you it was Christopher Columbus. However, the history books were wrong. Christopher Columbus was an explorer navigator. He is most famous for sailing across the Atlantic Ocean and claiming parts of America for the Spanish empire in 1492. Columbus initiated the colonization of the new world. However, Columbus was not the first to discover America. According to other historians there were many other explores that discover the continent. If Columbus did not discover the new world who did? America was named after an Italian explorer named Amerigo Vesovcci. Vesovcci demonstrated in 1502 that Brazil did not represent what Columbus believed to be Asia. Because of his discovery the continent
In the discussion, they knew the Spaniards and Columbus were coming, and even with out meeting them, they know from others, that they harsh to the natives. In how the Natives were horribly enslaved and were put on the near extinction of their people and culture, shows how Columbus and other Spanish Conquistadors caused so much pain and suffering, which societies must be educated upon.
Many people believe believed throughout history that the beginning of North America’s inhabitance was when Christopher Columbus crossed the Atlantic Ocean in the year 1492. They believed that he is the person who discovered America where in fact it was the Native Americans who made the initial discovery. Therefore, Columbus’s mission is considered more of a journey. One of the motivators behind the voyage was to move away from Britain and begin a new life in what was to them, land of potential opportunity.
“In fourteen hundred ninety-two Columbus sailed the ocean blue.” One of the first things we learned in primary school was that Christopher Columbus discovered America, they also made us read Christopher 's Journals (1493) such as: “ They … brought us parrots and balls of cotton and spears and many other things, which they exchanged for the glass beads and hawks ' bells. They willingly traded everything they owned... . They were well-built, with good bodies and handsome features.... They do not bear arms, and do not know them, for I showed them a sword, they took it by the edge and cut themselves out of ignorance. They have no iron. Their spears are made of cane... . They would make fine servants.... With fifty men we could subjugate them all and make them do whatever we want.” Here he was describing what he encountered with the “Taino indigenous peoples of Hispaniola.” However, we as students never questioned how is it Columbus “discovered” America. In his journals (1493) he states that he encountered people that lived there before he arrived, even though it wasn 't really America. The word discover is defined as “ to obtain sight or knowledge of for the first time.” There is evidence that validate Columbus did not discover America. One evidence that validates Columbus did not discover America is the inaccuracy in his studies. Columbus and his cohorts believed and
When Columbus first landed in the Americas during the pre modern era, he changed the course of world history for years to come. This was finally an age connected like no other time before. With a new connected world, economies blossomed and social changes occurred for the better or the worse. Although western Europe and in particular Spain came to control economically ,through silver and sugar, and socially,through cultural diffusion of natives, Africa and the Americas after contact, there was not a rapid social change of these land but a slow process of transformation.
To Columbus the Natives did not seem to be sophisticated or technologically advanced in his encounters with them. Some of them lived in villages with houses built in the shape of tents and the only architectural structures that I can recall being describes were these houses and the very high chimneys. They did know how to make cotton thread and traded these twenty five pounds of thread with the Spaniards and the they wore pieces of gold in their noses, wearing it in bracelets on their arms and legs. They traveled by canoes on the water and by foot on land and lived off the fruits from the land as well as fish, shellfish and birds. Most did not wear clothes and if they did it was by determined who wore what by status and age. At some island they saw cotton cloth covering some of the women. Some of the people did have the same language and customs as from the other islands visited on this voyage and appeared more civilized than others.
The one thing we expect is for teachers to give us an education, that is true, but then why is, “Christopher Columbus sailed the ocean blue in 1492,”one of the most famously false concepts known to Americans? Leif Erikson was the one that discovered America in the times around 100 E.D. He was on his way to Greenland to spread christianity commanded by the Norwegian King, when he got off course, and landed on a different location, which he called Vinland where he stayed for 6 months. He describes these people who were very mean, and he didn't get along with at all, this is why he did not bring anyone here after discovering it. It is also very possible that he, if not landed in America, landed in the North American Continent because of how close
According to Loewen they got his name right, and not much else. Lies points out that there were many groups of explorers that had "discovered" America before Columbus. He probably used some of their information as a basis for his plans to sail west. A full eight pages are devoted to other possible explorers. These groups include ancient groups from Indonesia, Japan, China, and Phoenicia. More recent groups include the Vikings, British Islanders, West Africans, and Portuguese fishermen. There are varying levels of evidence connecting these groups to pre-Columbian America, but still enough to throw doubt into the mix. Columbus got the credit because of the way in which Europe responded to his "discovery."
In the book They Came Before Columbus written by Ivan Van Sertima, chapter twelve, “Mystery of Mu-lan-pi”, there is a reoccurring theme of disproving the notion that Columbus brought over many different things and products from his expeditions to American to the Eastern parts of the world when in reality there is factual evidence that Africans made contact with America far before Columbus did. The author of this book, Dr. Ivan Van Sertima, has his undergraduates degree in African languages and literature from the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London. Van Sertima also worked as a journalist in Great Britain and did broadcasted to the Caribbean and Africa. With and extensive knowledge and work experience in African American Studies it is clear why he chose to wrote this book. The idea that Columbus was the first to bring things like maize from America is widely believed to be true but Van Setima saw that this was false and published They Came Before Columbus to show the facts and evidence that Columbus was not the first person to accomplish this. After writing this book Van Sertima went on to complete a master’s degree in African Studies at Rutgers University and even became a professor of African Studies at the same university. In this essay I will be going deeper into the theme and its relationship to African American history and discussing three other articles that can be related back to chapter twelve of They Came Before Columbus.
Columbus never discovered America since it was never close to empty. Evidence from source 4 is, ”this 175 million figure is roughly equal to the estimated 1492 populations of Europe, Russia and Africa put together.” Through definition, to discover is to be the first to find or observe. It is not possible to discover a place where there are thousands of people living already (source 4), especially if the location has more people than the region the individual is coming from. America was never discovered by Columbus since he already had knowledge of these new lands. Another definition of Discovery states that it is when someone finds something unexpectedly. There is discussion on the topic that states that Columbus already had knowledge of New Lands far in the West (source 4). Leading individuals to question if America was ever really discovered by Columbus. Columbus was never the first non-American to set foot on America. There is evidence on how people from all around the world had traded with America, found in books published before Columbus arrived (source 4). These are the ways in how America was not really discovered by
Throughout the world, Christopher Columbus has been known as a hero that discovered America. His disclosure helped execute a trade network between Europe (old world) and the America (new world). Which introduced new food and technology to both worlds. Although some may consider him as a legend, in many peoples’ eyes Christopher Columbus is a criminal that killed millions of natives, he took all the valuable goods from the natives without paying any price, and he is an enslaver. Therefore, columbus should not be considered as a hero.
From passages in Columbus’ journal, it’s obvious from the Admiral that he quoted from thought less of the Native Americans he encountered when he first arrived in America. He made quick assumptions about their culture and life, like they were a part of a patriarchy and that they were all in their thirties. The Admiral also believed the Natives were intelligent, but only because of how easily they took commands. Unfortunately, this speculation would also lead him to believe they would become good servant, most likely along with Columbus and the rest of the Europeans. Not only this, but they thought the Natives could be easily persuaded into Christianity through gifts and trade. They gave them trivial gifts such as glass beads and red caps to cajole the Natives to join together as friends. Because they Native’s didn't have access to iron, they were clueless to what iron made weapons like swords were. In the passage, it's written that the Europeans expected them have knowledge of their weaponry, and because they had “lesser” weapons like spears with a
In the founding period, from 1491 to 1609, Africans had not yet been introduced to the New World. In fact, Africans were not brought to the colonies
12 October 1492- Columbus arrives in the Americas- Christopher Columbus had the support of King Ferdinand II and Queen Isabella I. Columbus set sail in April of 1492. It took him nearly six months for him to touch land. Although Columbus was not the first to actually discover the Americas, he has been given that credit despite there being evidence that Vikings actually discovered the Americas around 1000 AD. “Icelandic legends called sagas recounted Eriksson’s exploits in the New World around A.D. 1000. These Norse stories were spread by word of mouth before becoming recorded in the 12th and 13th centuries.” (History.com/Vikings) The significance of Columbus coming to America over the Vikings is that following the voyage of Columbus, is when settlers really began to start traveling to the Americas and “a new phase of civilization began.” (Reference.com)
During Columbus’ journey, he had found the people of Espanola to be very generous with all of their possessions but they behaved very timorous. He perceives them as barbaric and uneducated because of their use of clothes and weapons, “… all go naked, men and women, as their mothers bore them… they