How many myths, how many lies is the history of man built on?
Perhaps one of the biggest lies is that Columbus discovered America. This mythology is pounded into us from grade school on, and provides a shady sense of national pride for Italian-Americans.
The problem is, as author Patrick Huyghe describes, “Columbus Was Last”.
Huyghe, who has written for “Omni” and “Discover” and produced various television documentaries, has put together a very convincing argument that North and South America were repeatedly populated by many different cultures, and in very ancient times.
The popular belief is that the Americas were populated by people coming over the land bridge from Siberia through present-day Alaska, and gradually migrated south. Undoubtedly there is truth in this, but Huyghe demonstrates that ancient tools found from California to Latin America prove that humans lived there long before the land bridge existed.
In fact, Huyghe makes the case that the Americas were populated by races of ancient seafaring people.
A long time ago, I knew an old guy that had run a large wooden boat shop in the Seattle area. He claimed that man was building boats before man was building houses. That appears to be true.
The earliest travelers to the west coasts were hardy Polynesian stock that populated the islands in the Pacific, who in turn may have their roots in North African – Greek/Libyan cultures. Huyghe explains that researchers believe there are similarities in Polynesian language, writing systems, and traditions with ancient Libyan cultures.
On the Atlantic side, the Olmec culture in Mexico has artifacts indicating that ancient African/Libyan explorers influenced that ancient civilization. Additionally, “Mining engineers and metallurgists have estimated that from 500 million pounds to more than a billion pounds of copper were removed from the Lake Superior region in the second millennium B.C.”.
Charcoal has been dated from the above mine sites that show they were in operation “from about 2000 to 1500 B.C.”.
Perhaps the most exciting aspect of ancient America exploration comes from the Chinese, who documented early travels and trade with the Americas. While these visits were sometime in the 450 A.D. era, the descriptions of the journey leaves no doubt that they also visited our shores, and appear to have explored far inland.
“Columbus Was Last” is a wonderful, quick reading page-turner. Every chapter discloses artifacts, trade goods, legends and inscriptions.
Author Huyghe spends the last chapter knocking Columbus down a notch or two. It appears that even Columbus’s heritage is in question, and it is somewhat of a surprise that Columbus died in relative obscurity. His discovery of “The New World” was not the first discovery, and the Americas weren’t “New”.
If you are looking for a great book on ancient history, grab this enjoyable book.
-John Titus
