Picture Giant Turtles from the Caribbean following the Gulf Stream to the coasts of Cornwall and other parts of Europe, diving occasionally to feed upon jellyfish as they make their epic journeys. Picture also Ancient American mariners, perhaps from the Caribbean or the east coast of North America, also following the Gulf Stream in dugout boats, large and small, reaching places as diverse as Ireland, Holland, and Iberia. Visualize the surprise of Christopher Columbus when he actually met two such Americans, a man and a woman, at Galway, Ireland, some fifteen years before making his famous voyage of 1492.
The story of Ancient Americans as seafarers, mariners, and navigators is, for me, a fascinating although often overlooked aspect of history. Evidence presented here will show that American Indians were builders of great boats, up to almost one hundred feet in length in the Caribbean, and were outstanding students of the ocean’s currents, storms, winds, and resources. The epic story of American seafaring includes maritime cultures of northeastern North America, fishing at sea for challenging prey such as swordfish, developing advanced toggling harpoons as early as 7,500 years ago, and evolving the “Red Earth” culture that may have spread as far as Europe.
The story of ancient seafaring also includes the daring voyages of Eskimo (Inuit) groups from Greenland and Labrador using ingeniously designed kayaks and larger umiaks, voyages that took them along the coasts of Greenland, sometimes passing underneath huge ice mountains arching over the coastline and always facing terrible obstacles from storms and drifting ice. Unbelievably perhaps, intrepid Inuit kayakers show up in the waters of England, Scotland, and elsewhere, whether arriving directly from America or escaping from European whaling vessels.
Along the coasts of South America, too, our story includes seafaring by nations such as the Caribs and Tupi-Guarani, with large dugouts of their own and with ocean rafts also being utilized. And our story would be incomplete without reference to the impressive freight-rafts used along the Pacific Coast and their counterparts in the Caribbean and Atlantic. Sails were often used both on rafts and in canoes (canoas) and pirogues (piraguas). Early sails seem to have been made of palm matting (or other fibrous material on Lake Titicaca) fixed to a pole mast with tough cording made from plant fibers.
Foreign visitors were incredibly impressed with American maritime ability and technology, whether in the waters of Greenland in the north, or south to the Caribbean and South America. In the latter areas huge trees with durable wood made it possible to manufacture boats of incredible size and flexibility, boats whose finished width was far greater than that of the original tree, since gradual pressure carefully applied allowed the hull to be expanded outward. Similarly, planking was often used to increase the height of the vessels. The Spaniards counted up to almost one hundred oarsmen in some vessels and remarked upon the protection given to the boats when beached by means of onshore shelters especially erected for that purpose.
We can assume, I believe, that boat building of that type extended back many centuries or even millennia. In the far north also it would appear that watercraft were being manufactured several thousands of years ago. Thus there is a long time period available for voyages both within American waters as well as across the Atlantic.
Our story also includes an examination of ancient migrations, theories of human origins, and evidence relating to the beginnings of human life in the American hemisphere. These fascinating topics must be dealt with in part because some scholars have argued for a great antiquity for Homo sapiens (modern humans) in America and even that migrations took place to Europe from America tens of thousands of years ago. Since our topic is the American discovery of Europe, we are compelled to look at such theories, however unpopular they may be in current anthropological circles.
In telling the story of American travel, one must touch also upon the activities of Europeans, since such activities often result in Native Americans arriving in Europe, usually as captives but sometimes as ambassadors, guests, entertainers, and curious visitors. In this connection our story includes evidence relating to possible Norse activity in carrying at least some Americans to Europe up to five centuries before 1492. Possible ancient contacts from Europe are also examined, such as alleged Solutrean-period spear-point-makers crossing the Atlantic in the Pleistocene, as well as later Roman, Irish, and other possible visitors from east to west.
Another fascinating possibility resulting from contacts across the oceans has been the spread of diseases. In this context, the story must include the theory that early Norse encounters spread disease epidemics to the Dorset people of Labrador and Newfoundland. The apparently sudden disappearance of Dorset culture, the later decline and abandonment of great American cities such as Cahokia, Illinois, and similar events in Mesoamerica suggest that diseases may have been introduced by pre-1492 European or other contacts, or by Americans returning from across the oceans. It is difficult to explain the wholesale disappearance of cultures, cities, and peoples without considering the likelihood of diseases carried in both directions (as may have been true in the case of syphilis).
The spread of plants from one region to another has also been considered possible evidence for early inter-continental contacts. The story of America’s acquisition of many plants of possible Southeast Asian or African origin is beyond the scope of this work, but references will be made to the movement of flora and foods from America to Europe and the Mediterranean region.
One of the great mysteries of the North Atlantic has been the question of what happened to the Norse colonies in Greenland. The European settlers seem to have disappeared between the 1400s and 1700s and several theories have been developed to attempt an explanation, including climatic deterioration, cultural stagnation, and pirate raids. Our story will shed light upon the dramatic disappearance of the Norse, showing that some became Americanized, intermixing with Inuits and Beothuk people of Newfoundland, but with a number of their descendants ending their lives as slaves in Europe and even South America.
After 1492 the majority of Americans arriving in Europe, the Canary Islands, and the Mediterranean came as captives. In spite of some records that shed light upon their existence in cities such as Sevilla and Valencia, we actually know very little of their fate. They must have had a decided genetic impact upon the populations of Iberia and doubtless many were sold, by the Portuguese especially, to other parts of Europe. We know also that some reached North Africa (as well as West Africa) and Britain, but as of yet, little is known about possible Portuguese and Spanish sales of slaves to Germany and the Baltic.
Taken together, the pre- and post-1492 periods offer the possibility that many Europeans have a trace of American ancestry, enough to complicate, perhaps, the work of geneticists seeking to trace human history by means of blood markers and DNA characteristics. I think, however, that the heart of our story must consist in the skill, courage, and adventurousness of these Americans who set sail on the high seas in kayaks of skin, dugouts of wood, great rafts, dugouts joined together, and even, on the coast of California, in the tomol boats of sewn-together planks. These Ancient Americans were sailors and explorers, even in the coldest and most dangerous of seas. Neither the frigid climate of northern Greenland nor the hurricane-stirred waters of the Caribbean succeeded in blocking their setting out to sea for food, trade, and love of adventure.
Francis Bacon, in his “New Atlantis” (ca. 1623), has a spokesperson for the mythical Pacific island of Bensalem relate the story of how the ancient Americans had very large fleets sailing the seas.
About 3,000 years ago, or somewhat more, the navigation of the world (especially for remote voyages) was greater than at this day . . . and the great Atlantis (that you call America) which have now but junks and canoes, abounded then in tall ships . . . that the said country of Atlantis, as well that of Peru, then called Coya, as that of Mexico, then named Tyrambel, were mighty and proud kingdoms in arms, shipping and riches: so mighty, as at one time . . . they both made two great expeditions; they of Tyrambel through the Atlantic to the Mediterranean Sea; and they of Coya through the South Sea upon this our island.
Allegedly, none of the Mexicans were able to return to America from that expedition, and about a century later Atlantis-America was largely destroyed by great inundations. “So you see, by this main accident of time, we lost our traffic with the Americans, with whom of all others . . . we had most commerce.”1
As we shall learn, Bacon’s fable was not so wildly improbable as some might have supposed!