This essay deals with the subject of pre-Columbian penetration of the New World by peoples from the Old World of Europe and Africa, whether as traders, explorers, or potential colonizers. It is a subject beset with difficulties, since there are multitudinous reasons why persons might deny the existence of real evidence, on the one hand, or create factitious "evidence," on the other. At the least, it seems clear that there were many visits from the Old World (besides the Norse Vinland expedition) before 1492, although their extent and lasting influence (if any) remains difficult to evaluate.
The major reason why evidence of pre-Columbian contact would be denied is that it conflicts with the comfortable, standard middle-American myth about the history of America: that before Columbus the Americas were inhabited only by primitive or at least uncivilized native Americans; that Columbus began the process of bringing the benefits of European civilization to the New World; and that the first Africans in the New World were brought here as slaves. There are serious problems with all of these assumptions.
First, there were advanced civilizations, possessing a written literature, sophisticated mathematics, and one of the most accurate calendars ever devised, in America when the first Europeans showed up about 500 years ago, specifically, the Aztec and Inca, with the Mayan culture still surviving in a post-imperial stage. One may suppose that without outside interference, they would have continued developing technologically to the stages reached in Europe, and one may therefore wonder whether any benefits were being conferred by the Europeans.
Second, since no one now questions the reality of the Norse Vinland expedition, Columbus was obviously not the first European to reach the New World, and this paper will consider the evidence and speculations about whether there were others. Granted that there seems to have been no surviving se...