reply to post by Mianeye
We've learnt of Amerigo Vespucci.
www.youtube.com...
What we're usually told is that he realized before Columbus that the Americas were new continents, and not some peninsula of Asia.
However there's a lot of debate around those official theories.
Apparently Europe always knew it was there and vice-versa.
There was just not much need to go there until Spain expelled the Muslims and they in turn cut off the spice route over land.
I've even heard conspiracists say that when this "official history" was decided in hindsight, the plumed serpent was called Amaru in Peru
(Lucifer).
So the land became Amarucu - America: Land of Lucifer!
I wouldn't put my name to that theory however.
Undeniably Columbus went first, and without his first voyage Vespucci would have stayed at home.
So by any theory Columbus got the ball of fate rolling.