Columbus Was Not the First to Discover America! And Other Falsehoods from the Age of Exploration

Columbus Was Not the First to Discover America! And Other Falsehoods from the Age of Exploration Think again before giving Chris Columbus all the credit for “discovering” America! This myth-busting podcast aims to set straight the facts about globe-trotting explorers from the 15th-17th centuries making their first contact with distant lands. In this episode, you’ll uncover why Erik the Red didn’t care about Vermont’s fall foliage, how Magellan’s crew brutally completed the first circumnavigation by ship, and why Shakespeare’s big spear-carrying brute Caliban actually came from the Caribbean...not Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Myth #1: Leif Erikson Discovered America Before Columbus Every grade-schooler knows Christopher Columbus pioneered the Americas in 1492 forever changing global geography and migration. Yet claims remain popular that Norse Viking Leif Erikson beat Columbus by 500 years discovering North American shores around 1000 AD. Erikson’s clan even established the first European settlement at L’Anse aux Meadows village in Newfoundland Canada. So doesn’t Erikson deserve props for making the first landfall? Maybe. But he didn’t stick around long enough to enable permanent colonization. And evidence suggests Erikson cared far more about tapping lumber resources than making history. After miners exhausted Greenland’s trees, Erikson followed migrating Inuit peoples pointing him westward where he pragmatically re-established lumber camps off Baffin Island and Newfoundland before returning home. No fanfare. No claim staking. Leif Erikson remains lost to obscurity for another 500 years. Yet the myth perpetuates each October for those arguing Columbus stole Erikson’s glory. Myth #2: Ferdinand Magellan Circumnavigated the Globe School texts extol Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan captaining the first oceangoing voyage to circle the entire planet after his armada departed Spain in 1519 bound for the Spice Islands. But Magellan never completed the global feat. After traversing treacherous Southern Storm seas en route to the Pacific, Magellan faced tribal warfare entering the Philippines where he died in battle before the first fleet reached home shores three years later with a paltry 18 crew out of the original 270 men. So Magellan deserves modest credit for inaugurating global sea travel modes before perishing midway. The full round-the-world completion fell upon Basque navigator Juan Sebastian Elcano commandeered the expedition after Magellan’s death. Even then, four rival ships were lost crossing the Pacific with just Victoria limping back to claim victory for Spain...by which point its Indonesian spices had rotted away fruitlessly Myth #3: Pocahontas Saved John Smith’s Life from Execution Dramatic movie portrayals show Powhatan native princess Pocahontas throwing herself over colonist John Smith’s soon-to-be-bludgeoned head after he gets captured, stopping the brutal public execution just in time. Makes for great ro This content was created in partnership and with the help of Artificial Intelligence AI.