Hey guys,
I'm taking AP US History this year, and we're currently covering the Age of Discovery, and I think my teacher may be a tad confused. He seems like someone who will hear a non-mainstream theory and solicit it as fact, because none of the claims he's made have had any backing in the text.
First, he claims that the Navarrese Basques discovered America over a century before Castile and Aragon did. He claims that they had lots of settlements in Canada for cod fishing, and never told anyone because they didn't want to give up their fishing spot. This seems strange to me, and its not supported by the text. He's just passed it off as text and now most of the class believes it.
The second claim he made is that Cristopher Columbu was not born in Genoa, but in Spain. He says there was a civil war not long before Columbus asked Ferdinand and Isabella for funding, and he was on the opposite side from them. To make sure they werent biased against him, he claimed he was Genoese. This seems strange to me because to my knowledge, the only big Iberian war in Columbus's lifetime was the conquest of Granada, and Columbus certainly wasn't Muslim, was he?
If someone could clear this up, that'd be great, thanks!
I can speak a little bit about the first point about the Spanish fishermen off the east coast of Canada. Yes, this was a popular spot to fish, and there were Spanish fisherman there likely before 1492 (I'm looking for some document I can refer to for conclusive proof so take that with a grain of salt in the meantime). The Beothuk people at the time lived in this coastal region of Newfoundland (and later the group all but died out due to new diseases, violent encounters with European settlers, food scarcity, etc.) and it may have been due to this reason that more permanent residences were not established. Instead there were some constructions made by the coast, but as far as I know these were not extensive settlements. What little remains are the occasional roof tile indicative of Spanish architecture. Also keep in mind that the vikings also visited these shores much earlier around 1000 AD (there's a little more about that and their encounter with Beothuks here). Basque fishermen came in full force by 1540 (" by 1578 Anthony Parkhurst was able to count over 100 Spanish vessels at Newfoundland, all seeking cod"), but there were likely earlier encounters as your teacher alludes - it was the competition with the French and British that likely step up their activity in the cod and whaling industries. This connection with the Basque fishermen though isn't that well known, and the discovery or connection was made quite recently in the 1970s. You can read here the interesting story about Selma Barkham (nee Huxley) and her discovery. I believe there's also a documentary about it, but I haven't been able to find it. I hope that helps. It was a competitive place to fish because of the plenitude of cod and the whales, and was therefore quite lucrative, so I'm sure there would have been some secrecy surrounding it.