Italian sailors – from Columbus’ hometown, of course – seem to have known about the existence of the continent 150 years before the famous explorer set foot in the United States.
Christopher Columbus, the explorer, “discovered” America in 1492 under the Spanish flag and made his name. The story goes that he stumbled on a new continent unexpectedly, assuming he had found his way west to the Indies. But did Columbus really not know about the Americas? An old document cautiously recommends doing so.
Document
In 2013, an ancient document dating to 1345 was discovered. This document appears after the analysis of the Milanese monk Calvano Fiamma. Analyst Pavlo Cesa drowned in it A new study I bent over this ancient document. After a thorough study, de Cisa makes an astonishing discovery: an exceptional passage in the document is said to refer to an area we know today as North America.
United States
According to Sisa, the old document states that Italian sailors already knew about the United States from Columbus’ hometown of Genoa. More than 150 years ago, the famous explorer set foot in the United States. “Despite the embryonic form, this is the first reference to the American continent,” Chesa said.
Rumors
The researcher shows how Genoa could have been the ‘gateway’ to the news. Ships that came ashore passed the stories heard at sea. One of the rumors heard by Fiamma was about lands in the Northwest. “These stories were told to the sailors they traded with to the northern ports of Scottish, British, Danish and Norwegian,” Sisa said. However, the rumors are very vague. As a result, they are not included in cartography or science, and when explaining why the United States was not classified as a new country at the time, Zisa is skeptical.
Described country
In the relevant passage in the document, the land is described as ‘full of trees’. It is also mentioned that animals live. “These details can be standard and common to any good country,” Sisa explains. “But they are not trivial. The common feature of most northern areas is that it is dark and the land is barren. Greenland, for example, is thus described in the report of Calvanius. Iceland is similarly classified by the German historian Adam von Bremen.
On the whole, Sisa argues that we should ‘trust’ Calvanius. The monk explains throughout the document where he heard the oral stories and supports his claims with elements he borrowed from other accounts. “I see no reason not to trust him,” Chesa says. According to the researcher, this document provides unprecedented evidence for the speculation that news of the American continent had already spread in Italy a century and a half before Columbus set foot there.
The findings of the study have far-reaching implications. This is because the old document calls into question the notion that Columbus discovered America by surprise. He may already be aware of the existence of the continent. So this raises a compelling question. After all, what exactly did Columbus discover when he embarked on his glorious voyage and crossed the ocean in 1492?
