Before Columbus : Early Voyages to the Americas (Hardcover)

Who were the first visitors to land in the Americas? Christopher Columbus? The Vikings? Think again! Archaeologists and historians have discovered artifacts that suggest a number of visiting groups, who may have arrived as far back as 146 B.C. Archaeological evidence indicates that the first to arrive may have been a group of Phoenicians, who in an attempt to escape from the Greeks, had fled across the Atlantic Ocean. Instead of landing in West Africa as intended, one group landed on the east coast of what is now the United States and another group landed in Brazil. Other possible visitors to arrive before Columbus include a group of Roman Christians fleeing from Emperor Nero, an Irish religious sect known as the Celi Dei, an expedition from Africa caught up in the prevailing currents, and several more. How did these groups interact with the Native Americans already here? And what happened to their settlements? Award-wining novelist and educator Don Wulffson unravels the discoveries and historical theories surrounding these early expeditions.