Quote:
Originally Posted by Island Time O25
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I do believe that vikings' discovery is unjustly undercelebrated and Columbus is overcelebrated. Probably due to the fact that there are many more Italian Americans than Scandinavian Americans. 
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Fact is that America's European colonization, the one that lasted, started after Columbus discovery. Probably other colonization efforts were made, for sure by Icelanders and eventually by Welsh, but they had disappeared leaving very few traces.
Portuguese and Basque had also probably have been on the American continent before but they were interested on cod
fishing not in colonization.
What lead to the faster colonization of
central America was the level civilization that existed there and the gold associated with it. Many come to America to become rich even if few had managed but that lead to the establishment of settlements and later colonies.
The
funny thing regarding Columbus as a navigator is that he completed messed up in what regards its objective, that was to find a way to
India sailing westbound. He was married with a Portuguese of noble families lived in
Madeira and had moved to
Portugal to increase his
navigation knowledge.
He first purposed his services to the king of Portugal (regarding finding a way to
India westbound) and his offer was flatly refused even if Portugal has actively trying to reach India.
It is important to understand that what all wanted (Portuguese and Spanish) was to reach India to be able to make directly the spices commerce to
Europe. The spice commerce was dominated by Muslims (Turks) and Venetians that increased many times the
price of the original product that was needed as a preservative for foods. That was all about
money, as usual. Nobody wanted to discover anything that did not bring with it a good profit.
In fact at that time Bartolomeu Dias had already managed to round the Cape of Boa Esperança (Good Hope) and from there to India the way was already well known.
To do that the sailors had to sail near
Brazil to then turn East to be able to pass the cape, that is a stormy one. It is supposed that
Brazil was discovered during one of those attempts before its actual "discovery" that was more taking official possession of it, by a big fleet that were sailing to India.
It is also supposed that the reason why Colombus offer was so flatly refused was based on existing knowledge that what he was proposing did not make sense.
At that time in Portugal the discoveries were not an adventure but a state business and all things related with it were treated as state secret. The secrets were so well guarded that very few maps and information reached our days. Discoveries were not made public and what had been discovered and by whom was a secret and the penalty for breaking that silence was death.