Who Discovered America, Research Paper Example

One of the most disputed points of America’s historical past lies at its beginning. The question of who first “discovered” this country has plagued scholars for centuries. Ask the average elementary school student a few decades ago and they would answer you simply and certainly: “In fourteen hundred ninety-two, Columbus sailed the ocean blue.” The misconception that Christopher Columbus was the first explorer to reach these shores was, and still is in some respects, deeply rooted in popular culture. There have been many attempts by the historical community to correct this mistake in the minds of Americans but with no agreed upon alternative. In this paper I will introduce the three popular figures in the study of the discovery of America- Christopher Columbus, Leif Ericson and the Vikings and the early nomads and attempt to explain why the Columbus myth is so popular.

Christopher Columbus was a Genoan (Italian) explorer in the 15^th and 16^th centuries. In 1492 he secured the funds from the Spanish crown at that time under the rule of Queen Isabella and Ferdinand. They had just ousted the Muslim Moors from Spain so they chose to bestow their money and interest in a new focus- world exploration. They named Columbus Admiral of the Seas and guaranteed him 10% of the revenue of the lands he conquered. Columbus himself was a devoted Christian and saw the spread of Christianity as well as profit as a major goal in his travels. He set off with the desire to find an alternative route to Asia to transport the commodities of opium, silk and spices to Europe without the added burden of dealing with the Turkish middlemen (Biography.com). In the end, he made four round trip voyages between Spain in search of the Asian continent but each time he landed not in Asia but in the Caribbean islands and Central and South America. Because of his desire to discover an alternative route to Asia he dismissed his own accomplishment of landing on land as yet unknown to the European community of the time. It is possible that the reason the myth of Columbus prevailed so long was precisely the fact that he repeated his journey so many times. Although it is evident now that 1492 is far too late a date to mark the first discovery of America, Columbus’ voyage does mark a significant turning point in the history of the Americas.

After his first voyage he left behind about 40 men to establish a settlement. Columbus was operating under the European imperialist mindset of the time; Europeans are cultured humans and that the native inhabitants were theirs to either convert or destroy (Zinn). This became evident by Columbus’ second and third voyages when the native people of the lands he tried to settle rose up from beneath the strong hand of his men and rebelled. Much blood was shed on both sides but this marked the beginning of European expansion in the New World and the end of a way of life for many native civilizations. The tales of inhuman acts and gore are shocking and it is difficult to read any account of the colonization process without wincing at the abominable treatment of the natives.

Howard Zinn in his book, A People’s History of the United States, paints a very comprehensive picture of the Columbus as a man, sailor and conqueror. He attempts to reverse the propaganda of the Columbus myth showing how brutal the “explorers” were to the native people. Once one is acquainted with more of the full story of the exploitation of the resources and people of the Americas once Columbus landed one wonders why we continue to celebrate Columbus Day today. Columbus Day is one of the oldest celebrated holidays in the United States with its first celebration in 1792 just 17 years after America won independence. In 1937 President Roosevelt declared it an official holiday and the controversy has flourished since then (History.com). For the historical reasons that I have outlined above many people have protested through the years the celebration of the bloodshed and imperialism that Columbus represented. In some countries like Argentina and Venezuela and even some U.S. states, the day has been transformed into a holiday to celebrate multiculturalism and the struggle of the native peoples in an attempt to take opposing action to the intentions of Columbus. As Zinn writes however, the main reason that Columbus Day continues to be celebrated is due to the lack of consciousness by the American people as to the true nature of Columbus’ voyages. They learn that he “discovered” America but nothing of the people he discovered- the land may just have well been deserted of people for all many history books say.

We can say as a fact that Columbus did discover the Americas for the Europeans at the time but historical evidence has now led to the conclusion that Vikings established a settlement in Canada nearly 500 years prior to Columbus’ ships. The credit for the non-native discovery is now widely given to the Viking Leif Erikson and his men. Few concrete details are known about Erikson’s life but many myths which correlate with historical evidence remain. Erikson came from a slightly disgraceful criminal background with his father being banished to Iceland from his native Norway for manslaughter. He was then banished from Iceland to Greenland with his son. Leif expressed a desire to explore and leave Greenland and around 990 A.D. he took a long ship with a crew of men and headed west. The ship eventually landed in Newfoundland and established a settlement that the Vikings named Vinland (BBC-history).

Vinland is described in several Norse myths and there also exists a map of Vinland from the 13^th century. In 1963 archeologists found the remains of a Viking settlement in an area of Newfoundland called L’Anse Aux Meadows. Its characteristics correspond with Erikson’s description and it has now been widely agreed upon that the Vikings did land in America before the 11^th century (Ingstad). So why did Erikson’s discovery go through history relatively unnoticed until recently? For one, the Viking’s were famous for their sagas and tales and his voyage may have become more folklore than fact. The Vikings were also known for their sea-faring capabilities and established small settlements across the Mediterranean sphere in Sicily, North Africa and other areas of Europe such as France, England and Ireland.

Their movement, unlike the Spanish of the 15^th century, was less centralized and coherent. By the 15^th century with the creation of standardized money, the early modern state and religion discovery meant something different. As we can see from Columbus it meant making an impact on the land and getting something from it to take back to the homeland. Leif Erikson and his men had neither the technology nor the desire to establish a movement of ships between Greenland and Newfoundland. The result was a quiet, isolated end to his settlement from unknown causes with his discovery making relatively little impact on the world at the time.

Little is known about the natives, if any that Leif and his men encountered in Newfoundland but it is certain that there have been people living in North and South America for at the very least 10,000 years. The traditional theory for the earliest Americans was based on evidence of a civilization discovered in Clovis, New Mexico in 1929. The tools found at the site were deemed Clovis points. As excavations around the country uncovered more Clovis points in other states such as Texas, Montana and Idaho scientists named these people as part of the Clovis culture. The controversy in these findings lies in the origins of the culture. Some proposed the Solutrean Hypothesis which stated that Clovis culture was actually transported to America by nomadic hunters crossing the Atlantic ice-shelf (Holden, 1467). However, there is no current evidence of Clovis technology in Asia to support this hypothesis and most scientists today refute this belief. Many instances of Clovis technology have been found both pre and post-Clovis culture around South and North America leading to confusion over whether these tools were simply developed separately and do not represent the same culture (Clark, 48).

In the mid-20^th century archeological digs in South America revealed evidence of peoples that pre-dated the Clovis people by 1,000 years. The best evidence of pre-Clovis culture was found in Monte Verde, Chile. The site was dated to at least 10,300 B.C.E. The tools were very different between the two cultures probably because the diet was more plant than big game focused. This proved that there had been people had been living in the Americas for much longer than previously believed and had not recently migrated from other continents.

In conclusion, there is still a lot of conflict and mystery shrouding the question of who discovered America. The question depends on the view the scholar wants to take. Whether or not the Clovis people were nomadic migrants or the first people to settle in America there is no question that they lived here before Erikson arrived in Newfoundland in 909 C.E. It is also clear that Erikson’s settlement existed (and expired) long before Columbus’ first landing in 1492. The question of who was here first seems almost inconsequential. A more interesting question is why we have clung so long to the idea that Columbus was the first explorer to discover America. The Columbus myth has endured because it represented a Euro-centric and popular understanding of discovery which included a white, Christian European on a mission to develop “uncharted” land and convert the native people. It marked a turning point in world history. It brought America into the European sphere of consciousness as Erikson had not done and began the colonial period. Columbus may not have been the first but he was the most influential discoverer of America.

Works Cited

“Christopher Columbus Biography.” Biography.com. Web. 06 Dec. 2011. http://www.biography.com/people/christopher-columbus-9254209

Clark, G. A. 2000. “Deconstructing the North Atlantic Connection.” Current Research in the Pleistocene, 16.

“Columbus Day.” History.com. Web. 06 Dec. 2011. <http://www.history.com/topics/columbus-day>.

Holden, Constance. 1999. “Were Spaniards Among the First Americans?” Science 286: 1467-1468.

Ingstad, Helge, and Anne Stine Ingstad. The Viking Discovery of America: the Excavation of a Norse Settlement in L’Anse Aux Meadows, Newfoundland. St. John’s, NF: Breakwater, 2000. Print.

“Leif Erikson.” BBC – History. Web. 06 Dec. 2011. <http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/erikson_leif.shtml>.

Zinn, Howard. A People’s History of the United States: 1492-present. New York: HarperCollins, 2003. Print.