Cheryl Baumgartner   Medical...
"In 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue"and did NOT
discover America as is widely believed.  
As a matter of fact the Norse beat him to it by 500 years when Leif Ericson's
expedition actually built a temporary settlement in Newfoundland, Canada.  Leif Ericson is now acknowledged as the first
European to 'discover' the Americas.  But
there is evidence that even Leif Ericson was late to the party.

Many people are beginning to look more closely at the Olmec
civilization, the first true civilization in Mexico and the origin of all the
civilizations in Mexico.  The Olmecs have
been mostly ignored when it comes to teaching history.  Almost everyone has heard of the Mayans but unless someone strikes out and researches on their own they don't
know very much about the Olmecs.

Many serious scholars are now becoming open to the idea that
the Olmec civilization is actually proof of the presence of Africans in the
Americas before the time of Christ. 
There are many things that people look at when exploring this
connection, one of the most obvious is the many carved Olmec heads which bear
African features.  As scholars let go of
their bias and look more closely they are finding numerous connections
including similarities in language and religion. 

So Columbus did not discover America, another European beat
him to it.  But another culture may have
just beaten them both.   
Oct 8th 2010 10:11