Who really discovered America?
For many years, history books have elucidated that Christopher Columbus was the person accredited with having discovered America-the present unipolar power in the world(Relative ,2009,Cohen,1988 ).However, owing to massive research by scholars it can now be advanced that Christopher Columbus is perhaps not the person who should be given credit for having discovered America(2004 par 1,Bologna,n.d).Many civilizations, it has now emerged courtesy of research and technological techniques have laid claim to having set foot in the land now known as America in the period referred to as the pre-Columbian era(Pitkin 3). This paper summarizes the claims that have been made regarding China, Polynesians and the Jomon from Japan and the probability that they could have landed in America before 1492.
China
In the video Who Really Discovered America? Gavin Menzies argues that at around 1421(71 years before Columbus) China was a great maritime power and who had a reputation of being skilful seafarers (Kahn, 2006).Gavies continues to posit that China voyaged to Sumatra, India, Iran, the coast of Africa all the way to the Bimini Island which currently known as Bahamas.Bimini Island is just in the vicinity of America. From the foregoing, it is plausible that China indeed through their chief voyager actually reached the Americas in the pre-Columbian era.
Bob Meistrell a character from the video Who Really Discovered America discovered some stones off the coast of Los Angeles.Lary Pierson (from the same video) believed that the stones were anchors for the Chinese ships. It stones through research have been attributed to have originated from China. Conversely, Dr. James Delgado (from the same video) disagrees that these stones were actually Chinese anchors but instead posits that the stones belonged to the Arabians.
A Chinese of the world dated 1763 has been linked to Zheng He the chief voyager of the Chinese (Kahn, 2006).However, the map has not been authenticated and if it can be, then it will be the first map of the world.
Polynesians
According to Dr Terry Hunt, the Polynesians were the first to set foot in the Americas in the pre-Columbian era. He attributes this to be around 1000AD.These comments are captured in the video Who Really Discovered America? Hunt argues that the Polynesians were the best sea farers at that time thus have the capability of reaching America with ease. This view is also shared by Dr Delgado who gives a name to the Polynesian ship model as Te Puke.
Similarly, in the same video Dr Jennifer Kahn adds her voice to the raging debate that indeed the Polynesians made it to America before Columbus. She cites that the Polynesians introduced chicken to South America and from South America they carried the sweet potato which they took back to Polynesian Islands. These views are also supported by Dr Peter Vitousek a biologist from Stanford University.
Interestingly, to pile on evidence that indeed the Polynesians set foot in America before Columbus, some fishing hooks have been discovered at Santa Barbara in America which it has been established bear great resemblance to those found in Tahiti (an island occupied by the Polynesians).This connection makes it plausible to conclude that indeed the Polynesians set foot in America way before Columbus did the same in 1492.
According to Shumway (2008) the Polynesians were people who lived on Islands and “had both the vessels and the skill to sail with or against ocean currents.’’ This lives no doubt that Polynesians were sea farers and as search it is not farfetched to attribute them having been to America before Columbus.
The Jomon culture
The Jomon culture is linked with the people of Japan (Palleres,2005-2011). Scholars are also convinced that the Jomon could have made it to America in the pre-Columbian era .Akiyama Keiko a curator at a museum in Kyushu Japan attributes the Jomon as sea faring people. This explains how the Jomon could have travelled to the coast of Ecuador. Similarities have been established between the pottery found at Valdivia and that of the Island of Kyushu ,a constituent island of Japan.Keiko posits that the Jomon canoe was used to travel from Kyushu to Alaska then they could have made their way to America.
To clear any doubts about this connection between Valdivia and Kyushu, Dr Betty Meggers of the Smithsonian institute in Valdivia (Fitzhugh et al,1999), they carried the pottery they had to all the way to Tokyo Japan and visited all the museums in Tokyo. Later, they visited Kyushu where they compared their pottery with theirs and they were able to identify glaring similarities. This makes it plausible to believe that indeed the Jomon people set foot in America before 1492.
To strengthen this connection, Dr Kazuo Tajima has pointed out that a deadly virus HTLV1 a rare virus that causes leukemia can be found in the South West of Japan and the mummies of Atacama desert in America. Evidence to back these claims were conducted by studying the bone marrows of the mummies and the living victims of leukemia in Japan.Interestingly,a strong bond was confirmed between the mummies and the people with the virus.
Lastly, it has also been established that people of Valdivia have Asian physical characteristics (Fitzhugh et al,1999). The question is where they could have gotten these characteristics from other that from the Jomon people.
In conclusion, from the evidence presented by the various scholars from the video, Who Really Discovered America? It is plausible that the Chinese, Polynesians and the Jomon people could have set foot on American soil before Columbus did in 1492.
Works cited
Shumway, Eric B. “The Encyclopedia of Mormonism” The Encyclopedia of Mormonism. 28 Mar. 2008. 23 April 2011. <http://eom.byu.edu/index.php/polynesians>
“Who Really Discovered America?” The History Channel. 22 Jun, 2010. 23 Apr. 2011. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNeAeceUEDY>
Kahn, Joseph. Who Really Discovered America? Zheng who? 17 January 2006. 24 April 2011 <http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/17/international/asia/17map.html?_r=1>.
Relative, Saul. Who Discovered America?Not ChristopherColumbus,That’s for Certain. 12 October 2009. 24 April 2011 <http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/2277079/who_discovered_america_not_christopher.html?cat=37>.
Palleres, Ricardo. Who Discovered America? 2005-2011. 24 April 2011 <archaeologyonline.net/artifacts/who-discovered-america.html>.
Dr Fitzhugh, william,Ives Goddard,Steve Ousley,Doug Owsley & Dennis Stanford. Paleoamerican Origins. 1999. 24 April 2011 <http://www.si.edu/Encyclopedia_SI/nmnh/origin.htm>.
Pitkin, Tom. A Political History of the United States of America 1766-1847. New Haven: Hezekiah Howe & Durre & Peck, 1828.24 April 2011.< HYPERLINK “http://books.google.com/books?id=-2UUAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA20&sig=Gjg2d9eF2rEQi6Fmo7X9iW64Cds&hl=en” \l “v=onepage&q&f=false” http://books.google.com/books?id=-2UUAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA20&sig=Gjg2d9eF2rEQi6Fmo7X9iW64Cds&hl=en#v=onepage&q&f=false >
Cohen, Jonathan. The Naming of America:Fragments We’ve Shored Against Ourselves . 1988. 24 April 2011 <http://www.uhmc.sunysb.edu/surgery/america.html>.
Christopher Columbus Discovers America, 1492, Eye Witness to History, 2004.24April 2011
< http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/columbus.htm>
BIBLIOGRAPHY \l 1033 Bologna, Sando. The Origin of America. n.d. 24 April 2011 <http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:UKGg-wnVpPoJ:www.osia.org/documents/The_Origin_of_America_Sando_Bologna.pdf+the+origin+of+america&hl=en&gl=ke&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESjflRF3WiO5QIuGE1HvXoxmpAYIB3n3H0MMZtsKYasXodl0qR9I6KsYnUPPxCLkKeFFZFqAD3e6lxe8SAFvm7>.
Christopher Columbus pictures.24 April 2011.
< HYPERLINK “http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/columbus.htm” http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/columbus.htm >
BIBLIOGRAPHY \l 1033 Resources, Your Zheng He. All you need to know about Zheng He. 2009-2011. 24 April 2011 <zhenghe.asia/pictures>.
