Re: OT: Renaming the continents

Joseph Flatula wrote:
>It comes down to your definition of discovery.  Mine would require the
>following:
>
>1) You must actually see/experience/find the new thing.
>2) You must realize that it is something new and different.
I would, generally, only require the first.
>
>This would mean that of all the people that went to the Americas, the
>Vikings are most likely the first discoverers.  If the "natives"* walked
>across a land bridge over a long period of time, it would just seem like
>Siberia extended onwards.  And Columbus didn't realize he'd found something
>new.  He certainly _observed_ the new world, but didn't understand what he
>was seeing.
On my view, the to-be American natives, the Vikings and Columbus all
independently discovered America. However, you could make a case that
Columbus discovered is on your definitions too; while he didn't realize that
what he'd found was an entire new continent (how could he?), he must
evidentually 've realized that the lands he saw weren't parts of the "known"
Asian countries like China and Japan (or Cathay and Cipango, to use
name-forms that might've been familar to Columbus).

                                                  Andreas

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