# Why do people attempt to discredit the discovery of the New World? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [November 9, 2009, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-attempt-to-discredit-the-discovery-of-the-new-world/516878 "2009-11-09T03:53:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2009, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-attempt-to-discredit-the-discovery-of-the-new-world/516878/81 "2009-11-11T05:09:56Z")
Oh, and just in case you really weren’t aware of this: Yes, several modern-day Islamic countries do have geographical societies. For example: [Saudi Geographical Society](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saudi_Geographical_Society) [Egyptian Geographic Society](http://www.server2002.net/egs1/index.html) [Bangladesh Geographical Society](http://www.banglapedia.org/httpdocs/HT/B_0183.HTM) ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2009, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-attempt-to-discredit-the-discovery-of-the-new-world/516878/82 "2009-11-11T05:54:55Z")
If all Columbus did was discover the New World in the sense the OP uses the word then his act was trivial. By that definition, hundreds of millions of people have discovered the New World, before and after Columbus did it. Columbus’ accomplishment was that he connected the Old World and the New World together. He was the first to do that. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9fc348/32.png) [@The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Flying_Dutchman)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2009, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-attempt-to-discredit-the-discovery-of-the-new-world/516878/83 "2009-11-11T06:32:48Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > … **as you yourself have just conceded** … as you’ve just admitted. What’s with this conceding and admitting ? I have merely stated the facts that you agree with. Apparently you are under the misapprehension that I see the global outreach of Europe vs the more limited geographic outreach of Islamic countries of more recent centuries indicative of some sort of superiority. Perhaps it is in your mind, but I fail to see why it should be so. > [@](#): > > Ever heard of the Caliph al-Ma’mun’s sending out a commissioned group of scholars in the 9th century to get an accurate distance measurement of one degree of terrestrial latitude, for example? Did they share the knowledge ? Three brothers sent to northern Iraq. So what does that have to do with global outreach? I could come up with many and better examples of Islamic scholarship. > [@](#): > > You’re not doing European culture any favors by disparaging other cultures I haven’t disparaged any culture at all. The fact that you have inferred that I did says a whole lot about where your head’s at in comparing European culture/history with Islamic culture/history. ---
**Author:** ![DanBlather](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f4b2a3/32.png) [@DanBlather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DanBlather)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2009, 7:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-attempt-to-discredit-the-discovery-of-the-new-world/516878/84 "2009-11-11T07:33:59Z")
I was reading a book about the nutmeg trade. The Europeans had a hard time with trade in the east because Muslims controlled many of the ports. By the time Europeans got to what is now Indonesia, Muslims had been there for years. Must have been darn lucky with their lack of geography and all. ---
**Author:** ![Hypnagogic\_Jerk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hypnagogic_jerk/32/4252_2.png) [@Hypnagogic\_Jerk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypnagogic_Jerk)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2009, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-attempt-to-discredit-the-discovery-of-the-new-world/516878/85 "2009-11-11T18:20:04Z")
> [@tomndebb](#): > > and one could spend weeks on the Grand banks without ever catching sight of Labrador, much less the North American continent Labrador is on the North American continent. Do you mean Newfoundland? > [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > Yeah, you’d think that after the first hundred or so smashed in heads, they’d learn. If I remember right, the site is known by this name because, or so the story goes, a young hunter once got too close to the bottom of the cliff and had his head smashed in by falling buffalo. It apparently does not refer to _buffalo_ head. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2009, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-attempt-to-discredit-the-discovery-of-the-new-world/516878/86 "2009-11-11T18:25:24Z")
> [@Hypnagogic\_Jerk](#): > > If I remember right, the site is known by this name because, or so the story goes, a young hunter once got too close to the bottom of the cliff and had his head smashed in by falling buffalo. It apparently does not refer to _buffalo_ head. I think you’ve got it correct. This is my understanding too, based on what I learned when I visited the site. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2009, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-attempt-to-discredit-the-discovery-of-the-new-world/516878/87 "2009-11-11T20:39:26Z")
It depends on what you mean by discovered. If your view of the world is centered around white people and glorifying white people, then I suppose that Columbus discovered the New World. But that is simply not true without distorting the meaning of white for racist reasons. Columbus sailed to the New World and found that it was populated with people he thought were Indians. Many, many people were here first, including Europeans. The Vikings even popularized what they did. Columbus merely opened the door to more ruthless conquistadors than himself. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2009, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-attempt-to-discredit-the-discovery-of-the-new-world/516878/88 "2009-11-11T21:03:02Z")
> [@Hypnagogic\_Jerk](#): > > If I remember right, the site is known by this name because, or so the story goes, a young hunter once got too close to the bottom of the cliff and had his head smashed in by falling buffalo. It apparently does not refer to _buffalo_ head. True, but I assume the buffalo skulls weren’t in that good shape after having jumped off the cliff, either. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2009, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-attempt-to-discredit-the-discovery-of-the-new-world/516878/89 "2009-11-11T21:38:09Z")
> [@The Flying Dutchman](#): > > Apparently you are under the misapprehension that I see the global outreach of Europe vs the more limited geographic outreach of Islamic countries of more recent centuries indicative of some sort of superiority. Perhaps it is in your mind, but I fail to see why it should be so. Because that’s exactly how you originally stated it: > [@The Flying Dutchman](#): > > To be blunt, only the Europeans saw any interest in developing a knowledge of the peoples, flora , fauna and geography everywhere in the world As you’ve acknowledged in later posts, the reasons that the Europeans ended up doing “global outreach” involved a variety of historically contingent circumstances and commercial/political/military as well as intellectual motives. But in your initial statement, you clearly suggested (with a coy wink towards your daring “bluntness” in doing so) that “only the Europeans” had the intellectual curiosity or courage or whatever to be **interested** in collecting knowledge of exotic places, which is both factually incorrect and disparaging to non-European cultures. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9fc348/32.png) [@The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Flying_Dutchman)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2009, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-attempt-to-discredit-the-discovery-of-the-new-world/516878/90 "2009-11-12T00:06:26Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > But in your initial statement, you clearly suggested (with a coy wink towards your daring “bluntness” in doing so) that “only the Europeans” had the intellectual curiosity or courage or whatever to be **interested** in collecting knowledge of exotic places, which is both factually incorrect and disparaging to non-European cultures. My SDMB display does not show a wink. Your interpretation of my statement is simply factually incorrect, and I suggest you examine your motives for asserting a negative incorrect view on my part. Frankly, you are just being hostile. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-attempt-to-discredit-the-discovery-of-the-new-world/516878.md?page=4)