I read awhile back that native americans actually discovered Europe on accident in the late B.C.'s, the only record I can find of this on the internet is somewhat hit or miss. Is there any promising historical records of this? If so, what was the reaction at the time?

by Imilliterateandim19
CommodoreCoCo

Are you thinking of the Cracked.com's claim that two Native Americans landed in Holland?

It's actually a theory with a long history of sensationalist misinterpretation. The issue stems from an anecdote in Pliny the Elders' Natural History. It's found in book 2, section 67, which postulates on the nature of the oceans. Apparently, a local king presented the proconsul of Gaul with some Indians who had washed ashore from the east in a storm. Pliny cites a now-lost text by Cornelius Nepos (though he is likely referencing Pomponius Mela referencing Nepos). This only makes much sense if you believe, as they did, that a water route between India and Germany existed.

Fast-forward fifteen hundred years to when such a route to the "Indies" has been discovered. Nevermind that this route doesn't involve going east. Pliny was still being read, so Francisco Lopez de Gomara made a connection in his 1552 Historia General de las Indias (on pg.13 if you read Spanish). Maybe the people in Pliny traveled across Newfoundland, Greenland, and Scandinavia to get to Gaul! This idea stuck. Now after centuries of scholarly over-preocupation and hack diffusionists, we get the somewhat standardized idea of two dudes (it's usually two) in a canoe (in most writings) who reached Holland (or somewhere in Europe).

So no, it's a total crap theory.

Mictlantecuhtli