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The coast of Brazil and the Cape Verde Islands are not terribly far (relatively speaking). I think a lot of Americans underestimate how close the Americas are t

The coast of Brazil and the Cape Verde Islands are not terribly far (relatively speaking). I think a lot of Americans underestimate how close the Americas are to the Euroafrican landmasses. Also, this is neat reading: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pre-Columbian_trans-oceanic_contact_theories https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pre-Columbian_trans-oceanic_co...

rubidium 10y ago
Sure... but this was in Alaska. Pre-Columbus oceanic contact across the Atlantic is not surprising (vikings et al). Across the Pacific is a bit more impressive. What was your point?
- Retric 10y ago
  Alaska is only 55 miles from Asia at it's closest point or less if you consider the islands between them. Several people have even swam from one to the other. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bering_Strait https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bering_Strait
  - BurningFrog 10y ago
    OK, that is much less than I imagined. Seems navigable with pre industrial ships.
BurningFrog 10y ago
The Cape Verde islands were uninhabited until the Portuguese discovered them in 1456.
- mmanfrin 10y ago
  Cape Verde Islands are closest, but the coast of Africa itself is not much further from Brazil. It's really easy to conceive of trade getting to the Ivory Coast and then traders making the trip to the Americas.
jcranmer 10y ago
Brazil is about 1000 miles from Africa. Cape Verde is 350 miles from Africa, and Madagascar 200 miles--neither of those were settled by indigenous populations of Africa (Cape Verde was colonized by Portuguese and Madagascar by Austronesians from Borneo). By comparison, the Bering Strait is about ~50 miles wide, and Greenland is about 400 miles each from Labrador and Iceland (note that I'm counting from West Greenland, where the Vikings settled), which is itself ~300 miles from the Faroe Islands thence another 200 miles or so to the Shetlands and 200 miles yet again to Norway. The islands of the Caribbean Sea are generally no more than ~100 miles apart. Bermuda (uninhabited pre-European contact) is ~600 miles away from North Carolina. Given those distances and what we know about historical shipbuilding technology, combined with evidence of which islands weren't inhabited back then, the only plausible contact routes that existed before the 14th century would be the Bering Sea, Viking longships, and Polynesian outrigger canoes.

rubidium 10y ago

Sure... but this was in Alaska. Pre-Columbus oceanic contact across the Atlantic is not surprising (vikings et al). Across the Pacific is a bit more impressive. What was your point?

Retric 10y ago
Alaska is only 55 miles from Asia at it's closest point or less if you consider the islands between them. Several people have even swam from one to the other. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bering_Strait https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bering_Strait
- BurningFrog 10y ago
  OK, that is much less than I imagined. Seems navigable with pre industrial ships.

BurningFrog 10y ago

The Cape Verde islands were uninhabited until the Portuguese discovered them in 1456.

mmanfrin 10y ago
Cape Verde Islands are closest, but the coast of Africa itself is not much further from Brazil. It's really easy to conceive of trade getting to the Ivory Coast and then traders making the trip to the Americas.

jcranmer 10y ago

Brazil is about 1000 miles from Africa. Cape Verde is 350 miles from Africa, and Madagascar 200 miles--neither of those were settled by indigenous populations of Africa (Cape Verde was colonized by Portuguese and Madagascar by Austronesians from Borneo). By comparison, the Bering Strait is about ~50 miles wide, and Greenland is about 400 miles each from Labrador and Iceland (note that I'm counting from West Greenland, where the Vikings settled), which is itself ~300 miles from the Faroe Islands thence another 200 miles or so to the Shetlands and 200 miles yet again to Norway. The islands of the Caribbean Sea are generally no more than ~100 miles apart. Bermuda (uninhabited pre-European contact) is ~600 miles away from North Carolina. Given those distances and what we know about historical shipbuilding technology, combined with evidence of which islands weren't inhabited back then, the only plausible contact routes that existed before the 14th century would be the Bering Sea, Viking longships, and Polynesian outrigger canoes.