07-04-2018, 01:41 PM
https://www.historytoday.com/s-frederick...er-america
Fascinating article on various "discoverers" of America. Much of the article covers Abu Rahain al-Biruni, a Muslim scholar from Central Asia. He didn't "discover" America so much as he calculated its existence, some 500 years before Columbus. A Latin translation of his Codex Masudicus was used by Columbus to convince investors that the earth was round and navigable (although Columbus apparently assumed Roman miles instead of Arab and was off by 25%). Biruni was actually only off the current measurements of the earth's circumference by 10 miles.
Lead me to read on John Cabot and learn much I hadn't known before. Article discusses the possibility that this Venetian was sent to re-discover America that had already been found by Bristol sailors in the 1470s. Interestingly, despite the significance of his discovery, there apparently is very little documentation of his 2nd voyage which landed in Canada. And nobody is really what quite sure what happened on his 3rd voyage, whether he was lost at sea or returned.
Fascinating article on various "discoverers" of America. Much of the article covers Abu Rahain al-Biruni, a Muslim scholar from Central Asia. He didn't "discover" America so much as he calculated its existence, some 500 years before Columbus. A Latin translation of his Codex Masudicus was used by Columbus to convince investors that the earth was round and navigable (although Columbus apparently assumed Roman miles instead of Arab and was off by 25%). Biruni was actually only off the current measurements of the earth's circumference by 10 miles.
Lead me to read on John Cabot and learn much I hadn't known before. Article discusses the possibility that this Venetian was sent to re-discover America that had already been found by Bristol sailors in the 1470s. Interestingly, despite the significance of his discovery, there apparently is very little documentation of his 2nd voyage which landed in Canada. And nobody is really what quite sure what happened on his 3rd voyage, whether he was lost at sea or returned.