[rescue] Digital server 7000r

[Joshua D Boyd]

On Mon, Dec 16, 2002 at 12:19:28PM -0800, Lionel Peterson wrote:

> > How were they forced to discover it?  I thought they were explorer,
> > like the Spanish?
> 
> Wait, are you saying someone was here before Columbus?

You mean someone besides the natives?  The natives had to get here
somewhere if you believe the christians/jews/islams about the first
people being in the middle east.  Or believe the Mitochondrial Eve
theory.

But, more specifically to the topic on hand, it is now widely accepted
that Eric Thorvaldsson beat Christopher Columbus by several hundred
years to "discovering" America (though the natives would have already
discovered it). I believe this is somewhere circa 980.. 

Now, technically, Greenland is part of America.  But most people mean
Leif Ericsson when they talk about a viking discovering America since he
was the one who traveled to what is today the US or Canada.  This was
between 1000 and 1003.  He went back to rule his Father's land, and his
brother, Thorvald Ericsson, went to explore America.  He died in a fight
with the natives.

Later, vikings visited the Americas in search of certain woods, but
apparently no more than a few every really stayed.

Less widely accepted, but still out there, is that St. Brendan found
America in the 6th century.  However, apparently there is no proof that
it was actually America rather than some other place because he didn't
leave any known evidence here and apparently ship navigation was
sophisticated enough at the time to really assert where he had been.
 
> How'd they get here? Space ship? ;^P

Boat.  It really isn't that far.

-- 
Joshua D. Boyd