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General => The Common Room => The Lighter Side => Topic started by: hookleg on Wednesday 07 February 18 07:09 GMT (UK)

Title: Who discovered America?
Post by: hookleg on Wednesday 07 February 18 07:09 GMT (UK)
 I had been led to believe that the first proven European to discover America was John Cabot in 1497 but have just been searching through info on members of Horne Family and came across this entry.

Henry Horne was born in 1404, at birth place, Kentucky.
Henry married Unknown Horne.
was born in 1405, in Waltham, Kent, England.
They had one daughter: Joan Haute (born Horne).
Henry passed away on month day 1497, at age 93 at death place, Kentucky.

Obviously it was a Man of Kent who discovered America. Unless you can find an earlier settler!!
Title: Re: Who discovered America?
Post by: Gillg on Wednesday 07 February 18 10:39 GMT (UK)
But wasn't it Viking Leif Erikson, son of Erik the Red, who first discovered and settled in North America?  Erik was the founder of the first Norse settlement in Greenland, having been banished from Iceland.  Leif's approximate date of birth is given as c970 or 980, though sometimes he is given as 11th century, anyway long before 1492 (Christopher Columbus).
Title: Re: Who discovered America?
Post by: Ray T on Wednesday 07 February 18 10:40 GMT (UK)
I think you'll find that whoever claims to have discovered America was beaten to it by the people who already lived there. The continent was settled well before anyone from Europe claimed to have discovered it.
Title: Re: Who discovered America?
Post by: Gillg on Wednesday 07 February 18 10:43 GMT (UK)
I know.  Annoying, isn't it?
Title: Re: Who discovered America?
Post by: Maiden Stone on Wednesday 07 February 18 11:09 GMT (UK)
My vote goes to the Irish Saint Brendan. He sailed across, had a look and returned to Ireland. Sensible man.  :)
Title: Re: Who discovered America?
Post by: frostyknight on Wednesday 07 February 18 11:25 GMT (UK)
You got in there before me Maiden Stone, I was going to mention St Brendan the navigator too. Not proven of course, but still!
I've always found the statement that Christopher Columbus "discovered" America v strange..as if the native Americans hadn't actually done so.
Title: Re: Who discovered America?
Post by: Maiden Stone on Wednesday 07 February 18 11:39 GMT (UK)
You got in there before me Maiden Stone, I was going to mention St Brendan the navigator too. Not proven of course, but still!
I've always found the statement that Christopher Columbus "discovered" America v strange..as if the native Americans hadn't actually done so.
The correct answer to the original question is "Nobody. It wasn't lost so didn't need finding and it wasn't called America."
Brendan got there before any of the others mentioned. He just didn't boast about it.  ;D  I have the music "The Brendan Voyage" suite.
Title: Re: Who discovered America?
Post by: frostyknight on Wednesday 07 February 18 12:31 GMT (UK)
Quote from: Maiden Stone
The correct answer to the original question is "Nobody. It wasn't lost so didn't need finding and it wasn't called America."
[/quote
Very good Maiden Stone.  ;D ;D
Title: Re: Who discovered America?
Post by: Treetotal on Wednesday 07 February 18 13:23 GMT (UK)
This captured my attention as my Father was from St. John's, Newfoundland and I remember going to see the Cabot Tower at Signal Hill in St. John's when I visited relatives some 18 years ago. I remember reading about his discovery:

 http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/cabot_john.shtml

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cabot_Tower_(St._John%27s)

Gillg is correct.

Carol
Title: Re: Who discovered America?
Post by: Sinann on Wednesday 07 February 18 13:42 GMT (UK)
You got in there before me Maiden Stone, I was going to mention St Brendan the navigator too. Not proven of course, but still!
I've always found the statement that Christopher Columbus "discovered" America v strange..as if the native Americans hadn't actually done so.

Where all the native Americans came from is also hotly debated.
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/dna-search-first-americans-links-amazon-indigenous-australians-180955976/
Title: Re: Who discovered America?
Post by: hookleg on Wednesday 07 February 18 16:08 GMT (UK)
Henry passed away 1497, at age 93 at death place, Kentucky. Probably from a surfeit of fried chicken. Must just have missed Cabot landing in Newfoundland that same year. Perhaps I was wrong about his ancestry, although it did mention Kent. Perhaps his early relatives were Norse or even native Americans and the owner of the tree omitted to say so.
Not surprising, as I have seen trees where owners have traced themselves back to Adam and Eve. Has anyone found a tree where the ancestry goes back further than that!!!!
Title: Re: Who discovered America?
Post by: Wendy2305 on Wednesday 07 February 18 16:15 GMT (UK)
Henry passed away 1497, at age 93 at death place, Kentucky. Probably from a surfeit of fried chicken. Must just have missed Cabot landing in Newfoundland that same year. Perhaps I was wrong about his ancestry, although it did mention Kent. Perhaps his early relatives were Norse or even native Americans and the owner of the tree omitted to say so.
Not surprising, as I have seen trees where owners have traced themselves back to Adam and Eve. Has anyone found a tree where the ancestry goes back further than that!!!!

I have seen a few trees claim to descend from Adam's father God  ???
Title: Re: Who discovered America?
Post by: Jed59 on Thursday 08 February 18 15:52 GMT (UK)
Henry passed away 1497, at age 93 at death place, Kentucky. Probably from a surfeit of fried chicken. Must just have missed Cabot landing in Newfoundland that same year. Perhaps I was wrong about his ancestry, although it did mention Kent. Perhaps his early relatives were Norse or even native Americans and the owner of the tree omitted to say so.
Not surprising, as I have seen trees where owners have traced themselves back to Adam and Eve. Has anyone found a tree where the ancestry goes back further than that!!!!
Yes. " I can trace  my ancestry all the way back to a  protoplasmal,  primordial atomic  globule. In consequence, my family  pride is something  inconceivable.  I can't help it. I was  born sneering"  Pooh Bah.. The  Mikado.
Title: Re: Who discovered America?
Post by: california dreamin on Thursday 08 February 18 17:08 GMT (UK)
I had been led to believe that the first proven European to discover America was John Cabot in 1497 but have just been searching through info on members of Horne Family and came across this entry.

Henry Horne was born in 1404, at birth place, Kentucky.
Henry married Unknown Horne.
was born in 1405, in Waltham, Kent, England.
They had one daughter: Joan Haute (born Horne).
Henry passed away on month day 1497, at age 93 at death place, Kentucky.

Obviously it was a Man of Kent who discovered America. Unless you can find an earlier settler!!

I was always led to believe it was Amerigo Vespucci
Title: Re: Who discovered America?
Post by: Redroger on Thursday 08 February 18 17:17 GMT (UK)
I await the discovery of a Roman Galley preserved somewhere in the Everglades of Florida! Possible I believe.
Title: Re: Who discovered America?
Post by: Maiden Stone on Friday 09 February 18 00:28 GMT (UK)
I had been led to believe that the first proven European to discover America was John Cabot in 1497 but have just been searching through info on members of Horne Family and came across this entry.

Henry Horne was born in 1404, at birth place, Kentucky.
Henry married Unknown Horne.
was born in 1405, in Waltham, Kent, England.
They had one daughter: Joan Haute (born Horne).
Henry passed away on month day 1497, at age 93 at death place, Kentucky.

Obviously it was a Man of Kent who discovered America. Unless you can find an earlier settler!!
So Kentucky was named after Kent! Obviously!
It might have been a Maid of Kent who discovered the place.
Title: Re: Who discovered America?
Post by: hookleg on Friday 09 February 18 10:02 GMT (UK)
Well done Maiden Stone, that gave me a really good laugh!!
Title: Re: Who discovered America?
Post by: pinefamily on Monday 23 April 18 06:56 BST (UK)
Leif the Lucky gets my vote for "discovering" North America, despite the indigenous tribes having already been there for thousands of years.
I was always led to believe that the North American tribes came across Bering Strait when it was a solid land mass. The beliefs and rituals of the North American tribes and the people of the steppes in Asia are too similar to be a coincidence in my opinion.
And not only Adam and Eve, but I have seen many trees stretching back to Woden, and even the Ancient Egyptian gods. Credible research?
Title: Re: Who discovered America?
Post by: susieroe on Monday 23 April 18 09:44 BST (UK)
New discoveries on the east coast seem to indicate Europeans were there first:

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/new-evidence-suggests-s

No names mentioned  ;D , but they do have DNA markers...
Title: Re: Who discovered America?
Post by: Ray T on Monday 23 April 18 10:03 BST (UK)
Would those be this week's, latest, once in a lifetime, buy it now, final offer, 25% off, Ancestry DNA markers?
Title: Re: Who discovered America?
Post by: pinefamily on Monday 23 April 18 11:16 BST (UK)
You get those final offers too, Ray? I get them a few times a month, if not weekly.
Title: Re: Who discovered America?
Post by: susieroe on Tuesday 24 April 18 07:39 BST (UK)
Would those be this week's, latest, once in a lifetime, buy it now, final offer, 25% off, Ancestry DNA markers?

 ;D
Title: Re: Who discovered America?
Post by: Vance Mead on Tuesday 24 April 18 08:17 BST (UK)
There is a theory that there were two voyages west from Bristol in 1480 and 1481. These were recorded by the antiquary William Worcester.
Title: Re: Who discovered America?
Post by: Redroger on Wednesday 25 April 18 20:23 BST (UK)
The question should be which European first discovered America? Then, from the answers given it will be readily apparent that Columbus was a fairly late comer. Portuguese fishermen were fishing for cod off Newfoundland in the early 14th century. Almost 200 years before Columbus!
More graohically there is archaeological evidence that America was colonised from the West at the end of the last Ice Age by Asiatic people who seem to have been the ancestors of the so called Native Americans; well at least they preceed the Europeans by several thousand years. Then, where did the Creoles, and Aztecs and South American people originate? DNA may give the answer to this in time.
Title: Re: Who discovered America?
Post by: pinefamily on Wednesday 25 April 18 23:53 BST (UK)
Originally the theory was that the Asiatic peoples migrated down through the Americas, but I recall reading somewhere that recent DNA testing has shot that down.
Title: Re: Who discovered America?
Post by: a chesters on Thursday 26 April 18 01:53 BST (UK)
Just to add to the interest, I read a little while ago, that the place where Eric settled had been discovered, and was one heck of a lot further north than the "experts" claimed. A bay was identified in what is now Newfoundland, and evidence of settlement uncovered.

Must try to find the reference, which is a proper checking of the evidence. I know I have it, just where ???
Title: Re: Who discovered America?
Post by: gaffy on Thursday 26 April 18 03:08 BST (UK)

... Where all the native Americans came from is also hotly debated.
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/dna-search-first-americans-links-amazon-indigenous-australians-180955976/


That was my understanding as well:
http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20170328-the-first-people-who-populated-the-americas

Title: Re: Who discovered America?
Post by: Redroger on Saturday 28 April 18 19:29 BST (UK)

... Where all the native Americans came from is also hotly debated.
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/dna-search-first-americans-links-amazon-indigenous-australians-180955976/


That was my understanding as well:
http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20170328-the-first-people-who-populated-the-americas
Anse aux Meadows Newfoundland. Same latitude approx as England.
Title: Re: Who discovered America?
Post by: dobfarm on Saturday 28 April 18 22:16 BST (UK)
My vote goes for Fred Flintstone-stone age.  ;D ;D ;D