When did Columbus discover America in what year? Columbus's discovery of America

The most important event in the history of the great geographical discoveries, and world history in general, there was the discovery of America - an event as a result of which the inhabitants of Europe discovered two continents called the New World, or America.

The confusion begins with the names of the continents. There is strong evidence for the version that the lands of the New World were named after the Italian philanthropist Richard America from Bristol, who financed the transatlantic expedition of John Cabot in 1497. And the Florentine traveler Amerigo Vespucci, who visited the New World only in 1500 and after whom America is believed to have been named, took his nickname in honor of the already named continent.
In May 1497, Cabot reached the shores of Labrador, becoming the first recorded European to set foot on American soil, two years before Amerigo Vespucci. Cabot mapped the coast North America- from New England to Newfoundland. In the Bristol calendar for that year we read: “...on St. John the Baptist (June 24), the land of America was found by merchants from Bristol who arrived on a ship named “Matthew.”
Christopher Columbus is considered the official discoverer of the New World continents. Cristobal Colon (Christopher Columbus) knew how to draw maps, drive ships, and knew four languages. He was originally from Italy and came to Spain from Portugal. Having found a familiar monk in a monastery near the city of Palos, Columbus told him that he had decided to sail to Asia by a new sea route - along the Atlantic Ocean. He was allowed an audience with Queen Isabella, who, after his report, appointed a “scientific council” to discuss the project. The members of the council were mainly clergy. Columbus ardently defended his project. He referred to the evidence of ancient scientists about the sphericity of the Earth, to a copy of the map of the famous Italian astronomer Toscanelli, which depicted many islands in the Atlantic Ocean, and behind them the eastern shores of Asia. He convinced the learned monks that the legends spoke of a land beyond the ocean, from the shores of which sea currents sometimes bring tree trunks with traces of their processing by people.
The rulers of Spain nevertheless decided to conclude an agreement with Columbus, according to which, if successful, he would receive the title of admiral and viceroy of the lands he discovered, as well as a significant part of the profits from trade with the countries where he was able to visit.
On August 3, 1492, three ships set sail from the port of Paloe - Santa Maria, Pinta, Niña - with 90 participants. The ships' crews consisted mainly of convicted criminals. 33 days had already passed since the expedition left the Canary Islands, and still no land was visible. The team began to grumble. To calm her down, Columbus wrote down the distances traveled in the ship's log, deliberately understating them.
On October 12, 1492, sailors saw a dark strip of land on the horizon. It was a small island with lush tropical vegetation. Lived here tall people with dark skin. The natives called their island Guanahani. Columbus named it San Salvador and declared it a possession of Spain. This name stuck with one of the Bahamas. Columbus was confident that he had reached Asia. Having visited other islands, he asked everywhere local residents, Is this Asia? But I didn’t hear anything consonant with this word. Columbus left some people on the island of Hispaniola, led by his brother, and sailed to Spain. To prove that he had discovered the route to Asia, Columbus took with him several Indians, feathers of unprecedented birds, some plants, including maize, potatoes and tobacco, as well as gold taken from the inhabitants of the islands. On March 15, 1493, he was greeted as a hero in Palos.
This was the first time Europeans visited the islands of Central America. As a result, the beginning was laid for the further discovery of unknown lands, their conquest and colonization.
In the 20th century, scientists drew attention to information that suggested that contacts between the Old World and the New occurred long before famous journey Columba.
In addition to the frankly fantastic hypotheses about the settlement of America by the “ten tribes of Israel”, as well as the Atlanteans, there is a number of serious scientific data that America was visited long before Columbus. Some researchers even argue that Indian culture was brought from outside, from the Old World - this direction of scientific thought is called diffusionism. The theory that American civilizations developed almost completely independently before 1492 is called isolationism and has more adherents in academic science.
Hypotheses about the Egyptians visiting America remain unconfirmed (an active supporter of the version of Egyptian voyages to America was famous traveler Thor Heyerdahl), as well as the Phoenicians, Greeks, Romans, Arabs, representatives of Central African states, Chinese, Japanese and Celts.
But there is quite reliable data about the visit of America by the Polynesians, preserved in their legends; It is also known that the Chukchi established an exchange of fur and whalebone with the ancient population of the northwestern American coast, but it is impossible to establish the exact date of the beginning of these contacts.
Europeans visited the American continent during the Viking Age. Scandinavian contacts with the New World began around 1000 AD and presumably continued until the 14th century.
The name of the Scandinavian navigator and ruler of Greenland, Leif Eriksson the Happy, is associated with the discovery of the New World. This European visited North America five centuries before Columbus. His campaigns are known from the Icelandic sagas, preserved in such manuscripts as “The Saga of Erik the Red” and “The Saga of the Greenlanders.” Their authenticity was confirmed by archaeological discoveries of the 20th century.
Leif Eriksson was born in Iceland into the family of Erik the Red, who was expelled from Norway along with his entire family. Eric's family was forced to leave Iceland in 982, fearing blood feud, and settle in new colonies in Greenland. Leif Eriksson had two brothers, Thorvald and Thorstein, and one sister, Freydis. Leif was married to a woman named Thorgunna. They had one son, Torkell Leifsson.
Before his trip to America, Leif made a trading expedition to Norway. Here he was baptized by King Olaf Tryggvason of Norway, an ally of Prince Vladimir of Kyiv. Leif brought a Christian bishop to Greenland and baptized its inhabitants. His mother and many Greenlanders converted to Christianity, but his father, Erik the Red, remained a pagan. On way back Leif saved the shipwrecked Icelander Thorir, for which he received the nickname Leif the Happy.
Upon his return, he met a Norwegian named Bjarni Herjulfsson in Greenland, who said that he saw the outline of land in the west, far out to sea. Leif became interested in this story and decided to explore new lands.
Around the year 1000, Leif Eriksson and a crew of 35 sailed west on a ship purchased from Bjarni. They discovered three regions of the American coast: Helluland (presumably the Labrador Peninsula), Markland (probably Baffin Island) and Vinland, which got its name from a large number of vines growing there.
Presumably this was the coast of Newfoundland. Several settlements were founded there, where the Vikings stayed for the winter.
Upon returning to Greenland, Leif gave the ship to his brother Thorvald, who instead went to explore Vinland further. Torvald's expedition was unsuccessful: the Scandinavians clashed with the Skralings - North American Indians, and in this skirmish Torvald died. If you believe the Icelandic legends, according to which Erik and Leif did not make their trips at random, but based on the stories of eyewitnesses like Bjarni, who saw on the horizon unknown lands, then in a sense America was discovered even before the year 1000. However, it was Leif who was the first to make a full-fledged expedition along the shores of Vinland, gave it a name, landed on the shore and even tried to colonize it. Based on the stories of Leif and his people, which served as the basis for the Scandinavian “Saga of Eric the Red” and “Saga of the Greenlanders,” the first maps of Vinland were compiled.
This information, preserved by the Icelandic sagas, was confirmed in 1960, when archaeological evidence of an early Viking settlement was discovered in the town of L'Anse aux Meadows on the island of Newfoundland. Currently, the exploration of the territory of North America by the Vikings long before the voyages of Columbus is considered a definitively proven fact. Scientists have reached a consensus that the Vikings were indeed the first Europeans to discover North America, but the exact location of their settlement is still a matter of scientific dispute. At first, the Vikings did not distinguish between exploring lands and
population in Greenland and Vinland, on the one hand, and Iceland, on the other. The feeling of another world appeared to them only after meeting with local tribes, significantly different from the Irish monks in Iceland. For more than 11,000 years before this, the continent was already inhabited by numerous indigenous peoples, the American Indians.
The Saga of Eric the Red and the Saga of the Greenlanders were written approximately 250 years after the colonization of Greenland and suggest that there were several attempts to establish a settlement in Vinland, but none lasted more than two years. There may be several reasons why the Vikings abandoned settlements, including disagreement among the male colonists regarding the few women accompanying the voyage, and armed skirmishes with the locals, whom the Vikings called Skralings, both of which are recorded in written sources.
Until the 19th century, historians viewed the idea of ​​Viking settlements in North America solely in the context of the national folklore of the Scandinavian peoples. The first scientific theory appeared in 1837 thanks to the Danish historian and antiquarian Karl Christian Rafn. In his book American Antiquities, Rafn conducted a comprehensive examination of the sagas and explored possible sites on the American coast, as a result of which he concluded that the country of Vinland, discovered by the Vikings, really existed.
There is disagreement among historians regarding the geographical location of Vinland. Rafn and Erik Wahlgren believed that Vinland was located somewhere in New
England. And in the 1960s, a Viking settlement was discovered through excavations in Newfoundland, and some scientists think that this was the site chosen by Leif. Others still believe that Vinland must be further south, and that the discovered settlement refers to a hitherto unknown, later attempt by the Vikings to settle in America.
History continues to lift the veil of its secrets. Scientists have yet to verify the likelihood and timing of earlier contacts with the American continent by immigrants from the Old World.

Dioscoro Pueblo. “Columbus Landing in America” (1862 painting)

Discovery of America- an event as a result of which a new part of the world became known to the inhabitants of the Old World - America, consisting of two continents.

Expeditions of Christopher Columbus

1st expedition

The first expedition of Christopher Columbus (1492-1493) consisting of 91 people on the ships "Santa Maria", "Pinta", "Nina" left Palos de la Frontera on August 3, 1492, and turned from the Canary Islands to West (September 9), crossed the Atlantic Ocean in the subtropical zone and reached the island of San Salvador in the Bahamas archipelago, where Christopher Columbus landed on October 12, 1492 (the official date of the discovery of America). On October 14-24, Christopher Columbus visited a number of other Bahamas, and on October 28-December 5 he discovered and explored a section of the northeastern coast of Cuba. On December 6, Columbus reached Fr. Haiti and moved along the northern coast. On the night of December 25, the flagship Santa Maria landed on a reef, but the people escaped. Columbus on the ship Niña completed his exploration of the northern coast of Haiti on January 4-16, 1493 and returned to Castile on March 15.

2nd expedition

The 2nd expedition (1493-1496), which Christopher Columbus led already with the rank of admiral and as viceroy of the newly discovered lands, consisted of 17 ships with a crew of over 1.5 thousand people. On November 3, 1493, Columbus discovered the islands of Dominica and Guadeloupe, turning to the North-West, about 20 more Lesser Antilles, including Antigua and the Virgin Islands, and on November 19 - the island of Puerto Rico and approached north shore Haiti. On March 12-29, 1494, Columbus, in search of gold, made an aggressive campaign into Haiti, and crossed the Cordillera Central ridge. On April 29-May 3, Columbus with 3 ships sailed along the southeastern coast of Cuba, turned south from Cape Cruz and discovered the island on May 5. Jamaica. Returning to Cape Cruz on May 15, Columbus passed along south coast Cuba to 84° west longitude, discovered the Jardines de la Reina archipelago, the Zapata Peninsula and the island of Pinos. On June 24, Christopher Columbus turned east and explored the entire South coast Haiti. In 1495, Christopher Columbus continued his conquest of Haiti; On March 10, 1496 he left the island and returned to Castile on June 11.

3rd expedition

The 3rd expedition (1498-1500) consisted of 6 ships, 3 of which Christopher Columbus himself led across the Atlantic Ocean near 10° north latitude. On July 31, 1498, he discovered the island of Trinidad, entered the Gulf of Paria from the south, discovered the mouth of the western branch of the Orinoco River delta and the Paria Peninsula, marking the beginning of the discovery South America. Having then entered the Caribbean Sea, Christopher Columbus approached the Araya Peninsula, discovered Margarita Island on August 15, and arrived in the city of Santo Domingo (on the island of Haiti) on August 31. In 1500, Christopher Columbus was arrested following a denunciation and sent to Castile, where he was released.

4th expedition

4th expedition (1502-1504). Having obtained permission to continue the search for the western route to India, Columbus with 4 ships reached the island of Martinique on June 15, 1502, the Gulf of Honduras on July 30, and opened the Caribbean coast of Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama to the Gulf of Uraba from August 1, 1502 to May 1, 1503. Turning then to the North, on June 25, 1503 he was wrecked off the island of Jamaica; help from Santo Domingo came only a year later. Christopher Columbus returned to Castile on November 7, 1504.

Discoverer Candidates

• The first people to settle in America were the indigenous Indians, who moved there about 30 thousand years ago from Asia along the Bering Isthmus.
• In the 10th century, around 1000, the Vikings led by Leif Eriksson. L'Anse aux Meadows contains the remains of a Viking settlement on the continent. This historical and archaeological site (L'Anse aux Meadows) is recognized by scientists as evidence of transoceanic contacts that took place before the discovery made by Columbus.
• In 1492 - Christopher Columbus (Genoese in the service of Spain); Columbus himself believed that he had discovered the route to Asia (hence the names West Indies, Indians).
• In 1507, cartographer M. Waldseemüller proposed that open lands were named America in honor of the New World explorer Amerigo Vespucci - this is considered the moment from which America was recognized as an independent continent.
• There is sufficient reason to believe that the continent was named after the English philanthropist Richard America from Bristol, who financed the second transatlantic expedition of John Cabot in 1497, and Vespucci took his nickname in honor of the already named continent [ ] . In May 1497, Cabot reached the shores of Labrador, becoming the first recorded European to set foot on the North American continent. Cabot compiled a map of the coast of North America - from Nova Scotia to Newfoundland. In the Bristol calendar for that year we read: “... on St. John the Baptist, the land of America was found by merchants from Bristol, who arrived on a ship from Bristol with the name "Matthew" ("Metic").

Hypothetical

In addition, hypotheses were put forward about the visit to America and contact with its civilization by sailors before Columbus, representing various civilizations of the Old World (for more details, see Contacts with America before Columbus). Here are just a few of these hypothetical contacts:

• in 371 BC e. - Phoenicians
• in the 5th century - Hui Shen (Taiwanese Buddhist monk who traveled to the country in the 5th century

When and who discovered America? The issue remains controversial to this day. Because first we need to decide: what is considered the discovery of America? The first proven visit of Europeans to the New World? This happened half a millennium before Christopher Columbus (remember the Normans). The first European settlement on the new continent arose at the same time. Although, the Vikings did not appreciate their discovery...

But so does Columbus! The discovery of America at the end of the Middle Ages has special meaning: It was from this time that the colonization of the new continent by Europeans began, and then its study. However, uncertainty remains. Let's take into account: in the first two expeditions, Columbus explored only the islands adjacent to the New World. Only in the summer of 1498 did he set foot on the soil of South America.

A year earlier, members of an English expedition led by John Cabot, an Italian by birth, reached North America. And in this case, it was assumed that the “Kingdom of the Great Khan” (China) had been opened. The voyage was repeated in the spring of next year. But the lack of economic benefit and income from such enterprises cooled the British interest in developing new territories. Scientific achievements must be recognized and associated with expanding the horizons of knowledge. And here there is a complete misunderstanding of the essence of what has been achieved. It is more logical to determine the moment when the truth was first revealed. And then the name of Amerigo Vespucci comes to the fore.

But we must pay tribute to the feat of Columbus and his contribution to the knowledge of the Earth. It was he who obtained evidence (albeit later significantly clarified), obtained facts confirming the idea of ​​​​the sphericity of the Earth. It's no coincidence that he thought trip around the world and tried to implement it. Let Columbus imagine the Earth to be much smaller than it actually is. More importantly, he not only speculatively, in his imagination, but also realistically, thanks to his travels, became convinced of the spherical nature and closedness of earthly space.

And yet, the oceans have turned from a great barrier into great connecting links connecting all continents and all peoples of the planet. Conditions have arisen for the creation of a single all-terrestrial civilization (“oceanic”, according to L.I. Mechnikov’s idea). In subsequent centuries all that remained was to develop vehicles and make contacts.

A significant fact: almost at the same time as Columbus entered South America and Cabot entered North America, the Portuguese flotilla under the command of Vasco da Gama reached India for the first time by sea. Tens of years later, the Spanish conquistador Vasco Balboa with a military detachment, having overcome mountain slopes and dense thickets, crossed the Isthmus of Panama and was the first European to visit the shores of the unknown “South Sea”.

The world's oceans somehow immediately, almost overnight, conquered people. Why did this happen? First of all, as a consequence of the emergence of navigation instruments that make it possible to navigate the open sea, as well as geographical maps lands and oceans. Even if the instruments and maps were imperfect, they made it possible to navigate in space, outline specific goals and pave the way to them.

Christopher Columbus

Amerigo Vespucci was a fairly experienced helmsman and cartographer and knew navigation; last years life held the position of chief pilot of Castile (he tested the knowledge of ship pilots, supervised the compilation of maps, and was involved in the preparation of secret reports to the government on new geographical discoveries). He took part in one of the first expeditions to reach the “Southern Continent” (as South America was initially called) and, perhaps, was the first to realize the essence of the achievement. To put it another way, he made a scientific theoretical discovery, while Columbus practically discovered new lands.

During the time of Amerigo, a letter from him was allegedly published, in which he reported his visit to the Southern continent back in 1497, that is, before Columbus. But this is not documented. It looks like nothing like this simply happened. But Amerigo’s innocence in this kind of misunderstanding is beyond any doubt. He did not claim the laurels of the discoverer and did not try to assert his priority. The popularization of knowledge and the spread of printing had an impact here.

In Europe, messages about new lands and peoples were in great demand. People understood the greatness of the deeds being performed, their enormous significance for the future. Printing houses quickly printed messages about travel to the west. One of them appeared in 1503 in Italy and France: a small brochure entitled “ New World" The preface says that it has been translated from Italian into Latin, “so that all educated people will know how many wonderful discoveries have been made these days, how many unknown worlds discovered and what they are rich in.”

The book was a great success among readers. It is written vividly, interestingly, truthfully. It reports (in the form of a letter from Vespucci) about the voyage in the summer of 1501 on behalf of the King of Portugal across the stormy Atlantic to the shores of the Unknown Land. It is not called Asia, but the New World.

A little later, another message was published about the voyages of Amerigo Vespucci. And in the end, a collection appeared, including stories from various authors about the voyages of Columbus, Vasco da Gama and some other travelers. The compiler of the collection came up with a catchy title that intrigues readers: “The New World and New Countries Discovered by Alberico Vespucci from Florence.”

Thousands of readers of the book could decide that both the New World and new countries were discovered by Amerigo (Alberico), although this does not follow from the text. But the title is usually better remembered and makes a greater impression than any paragraphs or chapters of the book. In addition, the descriptions written by Amerigo were written vividly and convincingly, which, without a doubt, strengthened his authority as a discoverer.

A little later, Vespucci’s “New World” was published in Germany under the title “On the Antarctic Belt.” And then this same work, already under the guise of a letter to the ruler of one small German kingdom, appeared as an addition to the famous and now classic “Cosmography” of Ptolemy. The whole work was called: “Introduction to cosmography with the necessary fundamentals of geometry and astronomy.

Amerigo Vespucci

In addition, 4 voyages of Amerigo Vespucci and, in addition, a description (map) of the Universe both on a plane and on a globe of those parts of the world that Ptolemy did not know about and which were discovered in modern times" About the discovery of America it is said this way: “Amerigo Vespucci, truly speaking, notified humanity more widely about this.” The authors of the addition were sure that Amerigo was the first to set foot on the new continent back in 1497. Therefore, it was proposed to name the discovered land “after the name of the wise man who discovered it.”

Quite fantastic contours of the New World were put on the world map with the inscription: “America”. The sound of this word turned out to be attractive to many people. They willingly put it on maps. The opinion of Amerigo as the discoverer of the New World spread - spontaneously. And among specialists, the image of a clever rogue, an ambitious swindler who gave his name to an entire continent, was increasingly emerging.

Thus, a sincere fighter for justice, Las Casas, in his writings angrily exposed Amerigo. But not a single document was found confirming such accusations. Vespucci himself never proposed to name the discovered lands after himself. He quite definitely wrote: “These countries should be called the New World” and referred to facts obtained in travels and research.

The Austrian writer Stefan Zweig said well about Vespucci: “And if, in spite of everything, a sparkling ray of glory fell on him, then this happened not because of his special merits or special guilt, but because of a peculiar combination of circumstances, mistakes, accidents, misunderstandings... A person who talks about a feat and explains it can become more significant for descendants than the one who accomplished it. And in the incalculable play of historical forces, the slightest push can often cause the strongest consequences...

America should not be ashamed of its name. This is the name of an honest and brave man, who, already at the age of fifty, set sail three times on a small boat across an unknown ocean, like one of those “unknown sailors”, hundreds of whom at that time risked their lives in dangerous adventures... This mortal name was transferred to immortality not by the will of one person - it was the will of fate, which is always right, even if it may seem that it is acting unfairly ... And today we use this word, which was invented by the will of blind chance, in a fun game, as a matter of course, the only conceivable and only correct - the sonorous, light-winged word America.”

True, there is reason to believe that the New World was named after the Bristol philanthropist Richard America (England), who financed John Cabot's second transatlantic voyage in 1497, and Amerigo Vespucci after that took a nickname in honor of the continent named so. To prove this version, researchers cite the facts that Cabot reached the shores of Labrador two years earlier, and therefore became the officially registered first European to set foot on new land.

Such navigators as John Davis, Alexander Mackenzie, Henry Hudson and William Baffin continued to explore the continent of North America. And thanks to their research, a new continent was explored all the way to the Pacific coast. But history also knows many other names of navigators who visited the new land even before Amerigo Vespucci and Columbus. These are Hui Shen, a Thai monk who visited there in the 5th century, Abubakar, the Sultan of Mali, who sailed to the American coast in the 14th century, the Earl of Orkney de Saint-Clair, the Chinese explorer Zhee He, the Portuguese Juan Corterial, etc.

Everyone from school knows the story of how in 1492 the Italian navigator Christopher Columbus reached the shores of America, mistaking it for India. Many believe that this historical moment is the discovery of America, however, everything was much more complicated.

First Europeans in North America

Modern archaeological evidence suggests that the real discoverers of America were the Scandinavian Vikings. Written sources telling about these travels are:

• "Saga of the Greenlanders";
• "The Saga of Eric the Red."

Both works described the events of the late 10th and early 11th centuries. They told about the maritime expeditions of Icelanders and Norwegians to the west. The first person to decide to long journey among polar ice there was an adventurer and navigator Eric the Red. Eric committed several murders for which he was expelled first from Norway, then from Iceland. After the second exile, Eric assembled a whole flotilla of 30 ships and sailed west. There he opened huge island, which he called Greenland. The first Viking settlements appeared here, which gradually turned into full-fledged colonies that lasted for several centuries.

However, the Vikings did not stop there and continued to advance westward. According to medieval evidence, at the end of the 10th century the Vikings knew about the existence of a certain land called Vinland. The inhabitants of Vinland, according to the descriptions of the Scandinavians, were short, dark, with wide cheekbones and dressed in animal skins.

Similar legends existed among the indigenous people of North America. Among the Indians who lived in Canada, there was a legend about a mythical kingdom of tall, white-skinned and blond-haired people who had a lot of gold and furs.

For a long time, the fact that the Vikings were in North America remained unconfirmed. But in the 1960s, a real Scandinavian settlement was discovered on the island of Newfoundland. Presumably, it was founded by Eric the Red, and then led by his followers, including the daughter and daughter-in-law of the navigator. However, this Scandinavian colony did not last long. Due to conflicts with the Indians, the Vikings had to leave Vinland.

Another indisputable fact in favor of the presence of the Vikings in North America was put forward by geneticists. Scientists studying the origins of the modern inhabitants of Iceland discovered the presence of Indian blood in their genes. And in 2010, anthropologists were able to study the remains of an Americanoid woman, who influenced the genetic structure of the Icelanders. Apparently she was taken from North America to Iceland as a slave at the beginning of the 11th century.

Thus, the first people to discover America to Europeans were undoubtedly the Vikings.

Activities of Amerigo Vespucci

Due to the fact that the Vinland colony existed for only a few years, specific information about it was gradually erased from human memory. The once open America again ceased to exist for Europeans. When Christopher Columbus set out on his journey, only two continents were depicted on world maps - Eurasia and Africa. In 1498 to India via Pacific Ocean the Portuguese Vasco da Gamma passed. His journey ended successfully, and then it became known in Europe that the lands that Columbus reached were not India at all. All this negatively affected the authority of the Italian navigator. Columbus was declared a fraud and stripped of all his discoverer privileges.

The man who drew up maps of new lands and subsequently gave them his name was the Florentine Amerigo Vespucci. Vespucci was originally a financier. In 1493, he was approached by Christopher Columbus, who had recently returned from his first expedition and wanted to continue exploring the discovered lands. Columbus decided that the land he discovered were some islands in Asia that required closer study. Vespucci agreed to finance Columbus's subsequent voyages. And in 1499, Vespucci decided to leave his banker's chair for sea adventures and went on an expedition to unknown lands.

Vespucci's path lay to the shores of South America, while the traveler used the maps that Columbus gave him. Vespucci carefully studied the coast and came to the conclusion that these were not separate Asian islands, but an entire continent. Vespucci decided to call these lands the New World.

Many European monarchs became aware of the former banker’s expeditions. At the beginning of the 16th century, Vespucci served as cartographer, cosmographer and navigator to the Spanish and Portuguese monarchs.

In total, Vespucci participated in three trips. During their course he:

• explored the coasts of Brazil and Venezuela;
• explored the mouth of the Amazon;
• managed to climb the Brazilian Highlands.

From his travels, Vespucci brought slaves, sandalwood and travel notes, which were later published and sold in large quantities. In addition to his geographical discoveries, Vespucci described in his diaries the customs of local residents, the flora and fauna of new lands.

Already in 1507, the first maps appeared on which the new continent was plotted. According to the tradition that developed during this period, the lands of the New World began to be called America - in honor of Amerigo Vespucci.

We all know that America was discovered by Columbus. On September 12, Americans at the state level celebrate America's Discovery Day or Columbus Day. On this day in 1492, the Spanish navigator and his expedition first landed on the North American coast (today it is the island of San Salvador, located in the Bahamas archipelago).

In the last few decades, not only assumptions have been made, but also various facts have been presented that refute the information known to everyone about the discovery of America by Columbus. Among the discoverers, researchers see several candidates and believe that the discovery of the new “promised land” occurred several centuries before Columbus.

So who discovered America first ?

Candidates for the Discovery of America

Sailing to the West across the Atlantic, Columbus was sure that he had discovered a new route to India and China, so he did not even think about discovering new lands. However, according to some accounts, he traversed the path that others had navigated long before his birth.

Fantastic versions

There are several different versions regarding the discoverers of American lands, some of which can be considered more fantastic.

It is believed that:

1. America was discovered by the Atlanteans, who, after the destruction of Atlantis, moved to the American continent.
2. The first ancient Americans were the inhabitants mysterious land Mu.
3. The ancestors of the American Indians came from the “seven tribes of Israel,” i.e. had Jewish roots.

Plausible theories

It is possible that there are other unusual versions that seem crazy at first glance, but in such assumptions, according to scientists, there is a grain of truth. According to the existing theory of the settlement of the American continent, the first settlers sailed to these lands on ice floes through the Bering Strait.

Vikings

Scientists studying the discovery of America claim that the first travelers who repeatedly visited American lands over several centuries were the Vikings. To support their theory, scientists cite Scandinavian folk sagas and legends, which tell about fearless travelers and their sea voyages, as well as archaeological excavations, held on American lands on the site of ancient Viking settlements.

One of these Scandinavian travelers was the Greenlandic ruler and navigator Leif Erikson the Happy. According to some sources, it was he who visited the American continent five hundred years before Columbus. How did Leif know that there were more lands beyond the Atlantic Ocean? Around the end of the first millennium (980-990), Leif heard from his compatriot Bjani Herjulfsson that there was a beautiful land shape covered in fog across the ocean. The fearless Scandinavian was haunted by the idea of ​​finding these lands, so he set out in search of them, conquering the northern seething waters of the Atlantic.

On the way to the shores of America, the Vikings discovered and mapped new lands - “Markland” (modern Labrador Island), “Vinland” (possibly Newfoundland Island) and “Hellulange” (presumably Baffin Island). Having discovered them, the Vikings founded settlements here, receiving severe rebuff from the indigenous inhabitants of the American coast and abandoning the idea of ​​​​settling on new lands.

Ancient peoples

Despite folk legends about sea ​​travel Leif the Happy, he is also not the actual discoverer of America. Then who discovered America first ? After all, according to legend, Leif learned about distant lands from other sailors. Consequently, before him, someone had already successfully visited the new continent and was able to return safely.

The peoples of Polynesia have legends about the visit of America by Aboriginal Polynesians.

In addition, it is believed that the Chukchi also visited American lands, establishing a trade channel and exchanging whalebone and furs with the inhabitants of the coastal regions of North America. It is this version that is beyond doubt among researchers, because there is archaeological evidence, which, unfortunately, has not yet been possible to date. However, it is also impossible to establish who was the first to undertake the first journey.

Egyptians, Romans, Africans, Chinese and other ancient peoples

When exploring the issue of the discovery of America, supporters of various versions provide unreliable and sometimes false information about the visit of the New World by ancient peoples - the Egyptians, Romans, Greeks and Phoenicians. Some adherents of such theories, including famous navigators Thor Heyerdahl and Tim Severin, are confident that the discoverers of America were Africans and Chinese. They base their assumptions on the similarities in the cultures of distant ethnic groups, such as the Greeks and Aztecs. In addition, architectural similarities are compared Egyptian pyramids and Mayan pyramids, the presence of maize in the territory West Africa, as well as figurines depicting people of African appearance, which were found among the American Indians. All these arguments suggest that representatives of the ancient civilizations of the Old World could visit America.

False discoveries

Such fantastic versions can be cited endlessly. True fantasy who discovered America first , begins with the legend that the first Europeans in America were not Vikings.

According to legend, the first Europeans to set foot on the American coast were the Irish, more specifically the seafaring monk Saint Brendan of Clonfert. Hoping to find the biblical Eden across the sea, around 530 he sailed west in search of Paradise, outfitting a ship. According to legend, Brendan managed to reach a certain Island of the Blessed, which quite fit the description of the coast of America. Returning to Europe, the monk talks in detail about this land. No one can reliably say whether the island was American soil, but in the mid-70s. of the last century, the British traveler, writer and scientist Tim Severin followed his path, who crossed the Atlantic on a wooden Scandinavian boat (currach) covered with bull skin, proving that theoretically the monk’s journey could have taken place. The only thing that stops researchers from recognizing the discovery of America by the Irish is the long period of time during which the legend could be embellished beyond recognition with fictitious “facts.”

According to another version, America was discovered in 1390 by wealthy Venetian aristocrats Nicolo and Antonio Zeno, whose descendants published a small book about the discovery of some islands. Having learned about the existence of fertile lands to the west, the Zeno brothers, together with the Earl of Orkney, Henry Sinclair, went in search of them. Having reached an unknown coast (presumably Estotiland or the modern island of Newfoundland), the travelers founded a settlement there. Despite the details of the description of the trip, from which you can learn about battles with local islanders and cannibals from the island. Drodge, there is no archaeological evidence of the presence of the Venetians in America yet. Otherwise, the “palm of championship” would go to them.

In addition to the Europeans, the Malians also want to be “enlisted” as the discoverers of America. According to one version, in 1312, the Sultan of the Mali Empire, Abu Bakr, equipped an expedition, went west in search of “land beyond the ocean”, found America and stayed there, because. he never returned from his journey. However, archaeologists do not confirm this version.

There is a statement in ancient Chinese writings that the Chinese visited American lands long before the travel of the Irish monk Brendan. In 499, the Buddhist monk Hu Shen described his journey to the amazing and beautiful country of Fusang, which, according to his calculations, was located about 10 thousand km east of China. His notes describe in detail the political system, nature and customs of an unknown country, but these descriptions are more suitable for descriptions of medieval Japan.

Who discovered America first?

Historically, it was Christopher Columbus who discovered America first. Why, having reliable archaeological finds and historical facts, historians do not recognize other discoverers, without giving their travels serious significance? Precisely because these expeditions did not result in the conquest and colonization of American lands, as the Spaniards did. After all, before them, all the travelers did not establish their dominance, or did not consider these lands a continuation of their own lands, like the Chukchi.

It’s just that America has always been open to everyone, and anyone could open it, even without knowing that they were opening new lands. Only the Spaniards were the first to announce their discovery worldwide, making American lands their colonies. That’s why Americans celebrate America’s Discovery Day exactly when Christopher Columbus discovered it and don’t look for an answer to the question “ Who discovered America first ?. After all, whoever did this, it was thanks to Columbus that the Old World learned that there was a new free world, where settlers from Europe rushed. And to this day this worldwide emigration does not stop, and the “promised land” continues to attract everyone, promising freedom, new life and well-being.