Discovering America - Did Columbus know?

[Occams Barber]

Mysterious Text Suggests Europeans Knew of America Long Before Columbus Set Sail

A document written by a Milanese friar, dated to around 1345, has been found to contain what looks like a reference to the Atlantic coast of North America – suggesting Italian sailors were already aware of the continent some 150 years before Christopher Columbus set sail for it.

Entitled Cronica universalis and authored by Galvaneus Flamma, the work is written in Latin and is currently unpublished. In it, Galvaneus attempts to detail the history of the entire world, from its creation to the 14th century.

"We are in the presence of the first reference to the American continent, albeit in an embryonic form, in the Mediterranean area," says Paolo Chiesa, a professor in the Department of Literary Studies, Philology, and Linguistics at the University of Milan.

Galvaneus writes about a land called Marckalada, west of Greenland, which matches up with the Markland region mentioned by several Icelandic sources. It most probably refers to modern-day Labrador or Newfoundland.

The thinking is that the friar heard about Marckalada or Markland through contacts and information passed on from Genoa, on the Italian coast just south of Milan. It raises the question of exactly what Columbus might have been expecting to find when he set sail to the west in 1492.

More…
Mysterious Text Suggests Europeans Knew of America Long Before Columbus Set Sail (msn.com)

OB

 

[Robban]

Mysterious Text Suggests Europeans Knew of America Long Before Columbus Set Sail

A document written by a Milanese friar, dated to around 1345, has been found to contain what looks like a reference to the Atlantic coast of North America – suggesting Italian sailors were already aware of the continent some 150 years before Christopher Columbus set sail for it.

Entitled Cronica universalis and authored by Galvaneus Flamma, the work is written in Latin and is currently unpublished. In it, Galvaneus attempts to detail the history of the entire world, from its creation to the 14th century.

"We are in the presence of the first reference to the American continent, albeit in an embryonic form, in the Mediterranean area," says Paolo Chiesa, a professor in the Department of Literary Studies, Philology, and Linguistics at the University of Milan.

Galvaneus writes about a land called Marckalada, west of Greenland, which matches up with the Markland region mentioned by several Icelandic sources. It most probably refers to modern-day Labrador or Newfoundland.

The thinking is that the friar heard about Marckalada or Markland through contacts and information passed on from Genoa, on the Italian coast just south of Milan. It raises the question of exactly what Columbus might have been expecting to find when he set sail to the west in 1492.

More…
Mysterious Text Suggests Europeans Knew of America Long Before Columbus Set Sail (msn.com)

OB

Or what?

 

[tampasteve]

I think that it is entirely possible that he had heard rumors, which is about what this text is. The Vikings knew something was out there, the Basque probably knew. It is possible some Irish monks knew....but nothing was actually known as to what exactly was out there, or where or what there actually was.

The Viking hopping method of reaching the North American coast was effective, but costly in terms of human life and ships. It has been estimated that the cost of bringing wood back from North America to Greenland for new ships and building materials was equal to or more than the ships and people lost - it was just not worth it in terms of materials and people as the crossings in that area are very dangerous.

 

[spiritfilledjm]

Even so, I don't think they realized how vast it was or how far south it went. They only knew of a small section of modern-day Canada. They knew nothing of the USA or the Carribean.

 

[Pavel Mosko]

That's interesting. We talk about things like "Urban Legends" where it seems like this is a Medieval one.

 

[Occams Barber]

Or what?

If you read the article no-one is contesting that the Scandinavians got there first.

The point being made is that information about the existence of America probably got back to Italy in the mid 1300s - 150 years before Columbus sailed. If one friar knew of it perhaps other people also knew.

It canvasses the possibility that Columbus may have also heard the rumour and was better informed than we all thought.

OB

 

[Astrid]

Even so, I don't think they realized how vast it was or how far south it went. They only knew of a small section of modern-day Canada. They knew nothing of the USA or the Carribean.

It seems as if a great deal of the exploration of the Americas was
centered on how to avoid it, get past it, it being a nuisance in the way
of getting to China.

 

[essentialsaltes]

I would think that if Columbus were aware, we would have some record from his journals or other sources connected to him.

 

[Robban]

If you read the article no-one is contesting that the Scandinavians got there first.

The point being made is that information about the existence of America probably got back to Italy in the mid 1300s - 150 years before Columbus sailed. If one friar knew of it perhaps other people also knew.

It canvasses the possibility that Columbus may have also heard the rumour and was better informed than we all thought.

OB

There is a story of how Columbus answered those who meant that it was not so remarkable, it was easy if one knew the land was there.

It was something about an egg, cannot recall it exact but it went something like,

breaking an egg is easy unless it is placed upright, try it out,

so they did, and found it was not so easy.

Meaning saying something is easy when someone else has done it first is different

from doing it first.

Maybe not so clear.

It is not always easy to communicate one's thought on paper, not for me at any rate,

I tried writing to the tax office once, attempt after attempt they ended up in my waste paper basket.
so I just wrote a note, I wrote,

"Take what you want and give me what is left."

For example.