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Many historians have put forward the view that the New world was discovered by the Italian explorer Christopher Columbus. It is commonly thought and accepted that with the approval of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, Columbus went in search for India which was located in the East. However Columbus unknowingly sailed to the west across the Atlantic Ocean which led him to a land mass which was unknown to the Europeans at that time which he name “The Americas.
Although this theory is commonly accepted as it has been popularized by the Europeans, there is significant physical evidence that suggest that Columbus was not the first to discover “The World”. Many Historians such as Ivan van Sertima believe that the West Africans discovered the Americas …show more content…
Menzies a British historian claims that the Chinese Admiral zheng set up colonies and sailed round South America before Columbus . According to mail online “Menzies used evidence of a copy of a 600 year old map found in a second-hand book shop is the key to prove that the Chinese, not Christopher Columbus, were the first to discover the New World.” This purported evidence that a Chinese sailor mapped the Western Hemisphere more than seven decades before Columbus is just one of Earth-shattering claims that author Gavin Menzies made in his book ‘Who Discovered America?’.However Menzies agrees with Sertima that Columbus did not discover the Americas as he expressed The traditional story of Columbus discovering the New World is absolute fantasy, it’s fairy tales,’ Mr Menzies told MailOnline. However Menzies theories are not accepted by the mainstream academic community as he has no formal training as a historian and no advanced degree from a major university - he was a submariner in the British Royal Navy. London history professor Felipe Fernandez-Armesto told the Daily Telegraph that his books are 'the historical equivalent of stories about Elvis Presley in (the supermarket) and close encounters with alien

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