Years before any work was made to invent the first gas-powered automobile, people already developed a sense of unity and started various civilizations around the world. Of course, like many of us today, the world’s earlier people were also fond of discovering new things. This drive for something more eventually brought many of them away from their communities and onto foreign territories. These people were travelers. Among the many of them who have found their place in history, one who’s often recognized is undoubtedly Christopher Columbus. Although he’s acknowledged for discovering America, Columbus didn’t discover the country as we’re often led to believe. So who did?
From The West
Tens of thousands of years ago, the world’s ocean levels were much lower than they are today. With that said, it comes as no surprise that many islands back then were still connected thanks to what is now known as land bridges, and as its name suggests, they are massive tracks of land that served as bridges. Like the many animals that migrate, people also utilized these land bridges to travel from one place to another. One such example is the Bering land bridge, which once connected what is now known as Alaska and Siberia. At least 11,000 years ago, a group of people from Asia, now known as the Clovis people, arrived in Ameica via Bering. Although they often take credit for being the ones who discovered the country, recent findings have shown otherwise, though the data is far from conclusive. Well, by the looks of it, it’s safe to say there’s still plenty of digging to do.
From The East
Although they disappeared due to unknown reasons, the Clovis and Pre-Clovis people remain relevant in America, with over 80% of the country’s indigenous people having some degree of relation to them. With that said, these people from a past whose history is yet to be fully unraveled entered America from its western side. From the east was another group of people – the Vikings. Thanks to studies conducted by researchers, it has been discovered that Vikings once settled in what is now known as Canada 500 years before Columbus set foot on American soil. In addition, their settlement has since become a World Heritage Site anyone can visit and check out! Reportedly the first European settlement in North America, L’Anse Aux Meadows is located at the top of Newfoundland’s Great Northern Peninsula and currently has eight buildings that date back to as far as 1000 AD. Like the previously-mentioned Clovis people, however, the Vikings eventually abandoned the area for reasons yet unknown.
The Mysteries Brought By A Potato
Besides the Clovis people and the Vikings, however, another possibility has recently been discovered. On the agricultural side of things, scientists have spent a significant amount of investment money finding ways to make crops, such as potatoes, stronger and more resistant against diseases and pests. Besides this, their current equipment and tech are also capable of tracing a crop’s whereabouts. Upon this realization, researchers took the opportunity to find out how a sweet potato, a vegetable native to South America, found its way to the South Pacific islands 100,000 years ago. Since then, plenty of speculations were made to explain this occurrence. One theory is that a native brought some potatoes along when he traveled to other countries. Besides being due to people traveling, another suggestion stated that the potato somehow found its way to Asia hundreds of thousands of years before any human settlements were established.
Although we now have possible choices for who can take credit for discovering America, the information is still not conclusive enough to pick a definitive one. Even so, that hasn’t stopped researchers from trying some more. With that in mind, it’s safe to say that there’ll be new information brought to the public’s attention in the coming years. Like the sky and the galaxies ahead, the earth is filled with interesting things, just waiting to be unraveled.
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