Erdogan: Muslims discovered America in 12th century

[Siege]

Shelf, that was a cool story.
I had never heard about the Basques coming to America.

[Malthus]

I did love the story in the Guardian about this that went through the various claimants. Aside from the Vikings it sounds like the only ones who may have actually got to the US were the Basques and Bristolians. The Basques went because they found there was so much cod. The Bristolians also went for the cod after discovering the Basques were salting cod before returning to Europe which could only be done online.

They tell the story of a very early explorer of America sailing round an undiscovered cape only to find a small flotilla of Basque fishermen in the bay

Apparently, a basque relic (an axehead) was traded from hand to hand through the early North American aboriginies until it arrived and was ceremonially buried in ... Toronto. A century before any Europeans saw the place.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mantle_Site,_Wendat_(Huron)_Ancestral_Village

[The Minsky Moment]

They tell the story of a very early explorer of America sailing round an undiscovered cape only to find a small flotilla of Basque fishermen in the bay

That would make a great Monty Python sketch.
"I claim this bay in the name of his Majesty . . ."
"excuse me, trying to cast here."

[Queequeg]

I did love the story in the Guardian about this that went through the various claimants. Aside from the Vikings it sounds like the only ones who may have actually got to the US were the Basques and Bristolians. The Basques went because they found there was so much cod. The Bristolians also went for the cod after discovering the Basques were salting cod before returning to Europe which could only be done online.

They tell the story of a very early explorer of America sailing round an undiscovered cape only to find a small flotilla of Basque fishermen in the bay

Yeah this is pretty common knowledge, although Basques were extremely important in the general Iberian shipmaking business so I think it's possible that Basque fishermen would have been around the first people to talk about how massive the Atlantic ocean was with Columbus, and then the first to hear that there was land over there.  "The Basque History of the World" talks about Native American groups knowing some Basque. 

[Sheilbh]

I love the idea of native Americans also learning Bristolian. 'Gertlush' is a loan word in Huron

[Razgovory]

So, eh, those damn injuns and their imperialism?

I made no statement of the morality of their act, though there aren't any Mammoths here anymore.

So, if only the Europeans had actually genocided the indians properly then there wouldn't be any indians protesting on columbus day, just like there are no mammoths, short faced bears, giant slotsh, saber tooth cats, dire wolves, giant beavers, terror birds and woolly rhinos protesting Native American Heritage day this year?

What the hell are you on about?

[Viking]

I did love the story in the Guardian about this that went through the various claimants. Aside from the Vikings it sounds like the only ones who may have actually got to the US were the Basques and Bristolians. The Basques went because they found there was so much cod. The Bristolians also went for the cod after discovering the Basques were salting cod before returning to Europe which could only be done online.

They tell the story of a very early explorer of America sailing round an undiscovered cape only to find a small flotilla of Basque fishermen in the bay

Bretons too, there are good reasons why the French Expedition sailing form Brest and the English Expedition Sailing from Bristol found Newfoundland. My guess, everybody except the "explorer" had been there before.

[crazy canuck]

the Basques were salting cod before returning to Europe which could only be done online.

The Basques also invented the internet!?

[Siege]

If there were europeans in America before the Columbian Exchange, how come they didn't infect all the injuns with the plagues post columbian explorers did?

[Malthus]

If there were europeans in America before the Columbian Exchange, how come they didn't infect all the injuns with the plagues post columbian explorers did?

Well, we know that some Europeans were there before Columbus - namely, the Vikings who set up shop in Newfoundland. No plagues resulted.

It is perfectly possible for brief contact not to transfer deadly diseases - if, for example, the particular Euros who crossed were not ill, or if the contact between peoples was minimal. It may have taken weeks to cross - resulting in a low transmission rate.

When contact becomes prolonged and sustained, the odds of disease transmission go up. 

[Siege]

If there were europeans in America before the Columbian Exchange, how come they didn't infect all the injuns with the plagues post columbian explorers did?

Well, we know that some Europeans were there before Columbus - namely, the Vikings who set up shop in Newfoundland. No plagues resulted.

It is perfectly possible for brief contact not to transfer deadly diseases - if, for example, the particular Euros who crossed were not ill, or if the contact between peoples was minimal. It may have taken weeks to cross - resulting in a low transmission rate.

When contact becomes prolonged and sustained, the odds of disease transmission go up. 

I hate the rationality with which you deflate all my conspiracy theories.

[Admiral Yi]

I imagine it had something to do with the climate the horn heads came from.  Typhus, cholera and the like are warm weather diseases, aren't they?

[Martinus]

If there were europeans in America before the Columbian Exchange, how come they didn't infect all the injuns with the plagues post columbian explorers did?

Well, we know that some Europeans were there before Columbus - namely, the Vikings who set up shop in Newfoundland. No plagues resulted.

It is perfectly possible for brief contact not to transfer deadly diseases - if, for example, the particular Euros who crossed were not ill, or if the contact between peoples was minimal. It may have taken weeks to cross - resulting in a low transmission rate.

When contact becomes prolonged and sustained, the odds of disease transmission go up. 

I hate the rationality with which you deflate all my conspiracy theories.

He is a higher level Jew.

[Malthus]

I imagine it had something to do with the climate the horn heads came from.  Typhus, cholera and the like are warm weather diseases, aren't they?

The real killer was Smallpox. Not sure if climate had an effect on that one, or if the Vikings could have been carriers.

[Valmy]

Well, we know that some Europeans were there before Columbus - namely, the Vikings who set up shop in Newfoundland. No plagues resulted.

It is perfectly possible for brief contact not to transfer deadly diseases - if, for example, the particular Euros who crossed were not ill, or if the contact between peoples was minimal. It may have taken weeks to cross - resulting in a low transmission rate.

When contact becomes prolonged and sustained, the odds of disease transmission go up. 

Or maybe it did wipe out that entire tribe.  Who knows? 

But likewise a short visit by Muslims was unlikely to convert Caribbean Islanders to Islam to the point they built a Mosque.  We have not found any Temples to Odin.