Speaking of Christopher Columbus.....How about did he discover America or did the Chinese do it in 1421, and then did he use their map to know it was there? And also did the Chinese visit Italy in 1434?
columbus may not have been first(don't forget vikings) but he sure got bang for his buck. for the queen of spain, what a great investment, supply 3 boats and crews(small price) and monopolize the pillageing of a hemisphere(boat loads of goodies). thus creating one helluva pirate industry that made nations just on stolen booty, advancing sail design innovations...probably a hobie guy.
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bill harris
hattiesburg, mississippi
prindle 16- "BLUE RIBBON" --
Anyone who landed in Central America would have known immediately it wasn't India, just by the smell alone...
They weren't pirates, they were privateers. The difference... same as today... government funding.
Privateers were/are pirates that steal for the government. So IRS people, etc, etc. Same as pirates only you need about 10 times as many to do the same job, and they have a union, pension and overtime. :)
Dang finally something I can comment on. Yes he knew where he was. He made 4 voyages I guess by the last one he knew he wasn't in India
According to Wikipedia (which is NEVER WRONG):
On 20 May 1506, at about age 55, Columbus died in Valladolid, fairly wealthy from the gold his men had accumulated in Hispaniola. At his death, he was still convinced that his journeys had been along the east coast of Asia.
I certainly have no first hand info... but that is what i have always heard.
reading the wikipedia page.. lots of info i had no idea about... i.e. arrested for barbaric treatment and tourture of people During Columbus's stint as governor and viceroy, he had been accused of governing tyrannically.
On 1 October 1500, Columbus and his two brothers, likewise in chains, were sent back to Spain.
Columbus and his brothers lingered in jail for six weeks before busy King Ferdinand ordered their release. Not long after, the king and queen summoned the Columbus brothers to the Alhambra palace in Granada. There the royal couple heard the brothers' pleas; restored their freedom and wealth; and, after much persuasion, agreed to fund Columbus's fourth voyage. But the door was firmly shut on Columbus's role as governor. Henceforth Nicolás de Ovando y Cáceres was to be the new governor of the West Indies.
interesting side note: he was convinced he found the garden of eden on the coast of venezuela, most be some sweet spot! mayby his greatest contribution was utilizing the trade winds. while working for the portuguese on the west coast of africa, he noticed that during summer, the winds were steady to the west. this was before the discovery of finding longitude, making it easy to navigate westward...spinnaker run to the new world! same way with the return trip, head up east coast to carolina or so then catch easterly winds back to old world.
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bill harris
hattiesburg, mississippi
prindle 16- "BLUE RIBBON" --
In 1501 Vespucci explored the coast of South America and had estimated the circumference of the world and was off only 50 miles. If Columbus didn't know where he hadn't went then he shouldn't sail a nacra, too complicated. Maybe a mystere.lol
How about the 1421 exploration by the Chinese who created a fairly accurate map of the globe. That is a book I want to read but will probably never get to. Sounds like they had a fairly accurate map of the world before Columbus ever came to the new world.
reading the wikipedia page.. lots of info i had no idea about... i.e. arrested for barbaric treatment and tourture of people During Columbus's stint as governor and viceroy, he had been accused of governing tyrannically.
And people wonder why some were offended by the Columbus Day holiday.
vespucci knew the new world wasn't asia, from reading the chronicals of marco polo there was nothing familiar about it. they were now asking how big is the new world, where does it start and end? it just keept coming. i believe the chinese fleet made the west coast, i wonder what they thought they were going to find. for whatever reason(shear distance, lack of greed?) they chose not to exploit there find. my favorite ancient mariners were the polynesian sailors, multi hulls! they believed the boat was like a compass needle, just point it where you want to go and the earth moves under you. they could cover 1500 miles of open ocean and hit the spot, a feat you avaitors can appreciate!
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bill harris
hattiesburg, mississippi
prindle 16- "BLUE RIBBON" --
i believe the chinese fleet made the west coast, i wonder what they thought they were going to find. for whatever reason(shear distance, lack of greed?) they chose not to exploit there find
Had Columbus made it across to the west coast, he would have know the Chinese were there, because they had already opened a Panda Express Chinese restaurant (With MSG)
This thread is about as close as I'm going to let it get to a political discussion here. I've been watching to make sure everyone continues to play nice, looks like everyone is getting along ok so I'm not going to delete it.
However it was started in the wrong forum, so I'm moving it to "Sailor Talk".
no kidding, if sinbad was a cajun, he would have been EATING those monsters with some onion, celery, and bell pepper in a creole sauce over some rice with some fresh french bread and an ice cold brewski!
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bill harris
hattiesburg, mississippi
prindle 16- "BLUE RIBBON" --