Who Discovered America? The Untold History of the Peopling of the America - Tapa dura

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Building on the startling revelations of his bestseller 1421, iconoclastic historian Gavin Menzies calls into question our understanding of how the American continents were settled, shedding new light on the well-known "discoveries" of European explorers, including Christopher Columbus. In Who Discovered America? he combines meticulous research and an adventurer's spirit to reveal astounding new evidence of an ancient seagoing tradition that dates as far back as 130,000 years ago. Menzies offers a revolutionary new alternative to the Beringia theory of how humans crossed a land bridge connecting Asia and North America during the last Ice Age, and provides a wealth of staggering claims, including: the ancient South American civilizations of the Olmec and Maya in Central and South America may have had direct origins and influences from Asia; Zheng He's fleets to the Eastern seaboard were pre-dated by thousands of years of other Chinese expeditions to the Americas. Also includes: Ancient maps in the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., show that there must have been sustained and dedicated voyages to the New World by Chinese explorers from as early as 2200 BC; Huge Chinese settlements occupied (and made exploratory journeys from) Nova Scotia; Japanese, Korean, and even earlier European voyages pre-dated the explorations currently recorded by history; The great Kublai Khan's plans of conquest may have been much larger in scope than originally thought, and he may also have dispatched fleets to the Americas. Who Discovered America? is Menzies' magnum opus: a fascinating new account with astonishing implications for the history of mankind.

Contraportada

A groundbreaking new book that upends our understanding of ancient America

Conventional history tells us humans migrated on foot across present-day Alaska, populating the Americas far later than other continents.

However, emerging new evidence suggests seafarers reached the continents thousands of years earlier and developed far more sophisticated civilizations than previously imagined. . . .

From "distinguished historian" (BBC World Service) Gavin Menzies, the author of the blockbusterNew York Times bestseller 1421, comes a revolutionary new account of how the first humans came to North and South America. Menzies reveals that ancient peoples used the oceans' natural currents and prevailing winds to make voyages across both the Atlantic and Pacific. What's more, we now must accept that they had time to develop remarkably advanced cultures. Armed with cutting-edge DNA evidence, newly unearthed artifacts, and astonishing linguistic and archaeological discoveries, Menzies shows

• humans have been making transoceanic voyages as far back as 100,000 years ago, vastly predating the supposed overland migration to the Americas during the last Ice Age;
• the ancient South American civilizations of the Olmec and Maya in Central and South America may have had direct origins and influences from Asia;
• ancient maps held in the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., show there must have been sustained and dedicated voyages to the Western Hemisphere by Chinese explorers as early as 2200 B.C.;
• huge Chinese settlements occupied (and made exploratory journeys from) Nova Scotia;
• Japanese, Korean, and even earlier European voyages likewise predated the explorations currently recorded by history.

A maverick scholar, Menzies has made a riveting new contribution to the story of humanity's earliest explorers, revealing the truth behind one of history's most fascinating questions:Who discovered America?