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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Samwaltz (talk | contribs) at 05:46, 12 December 2007 (reworded "the Americas" to "a different continent" - some accounts may reflect Australia, etc.). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

This is a Timeline of contacts between the Americas and the rest of the world, both legendary and historically based.

For convenience's sake, events will be preceded with the following key:

• H (Historical - currently accepted as fact)
• A (Ahistorical - insufficient evidence; postulation)
• M (Mythological - derived from cultural legend or religion)

At times categories A and M overlap as often the destination is never fully described beyond 'a large landmass' (and never described with enough detail to conclusively prove it is in fact a different continent). Furthermore, events are often exaggerated in the retelling, thus lending a legendary quality to an ahistorical account.

• To about 47,000 BC (A, H) - Some archaeologists have presented evidence suggesting pre-Clovis culture peoples arrived in America as long ago as 50,000 years. See Archaeology of the Americas and Models of migration to the New World.
• 14,000 BC to 9,000 BC (H) Ancestors of the modern Indigenous peoples of the Americas are known to have arrived at this time from Asia. Archaeologists have documented at least three waves of migration that brought them to North America:

• The first wave brought the predecessors of Clovis culture of North and Central America. Most Native Americans are descended from this wave.
• A second wave included the ancestors to the Na-Dené peoples, including the Tlingit of Alaska and western Canada, the Athabaskan tribes of the Pacific Northwest and the Apachean peoples, such as the Apache and Navajo.
• The ancestors to the Eskimos and Aleuts came during a somewhat later third wave.
• 18,000 B.C. to 15,000 B.C. (A,H)- In recent years, molecular genetics studies have suggested as many as four distinct migrations from Asia. The above-mentioned studies also suggest smaller-scale, contemporaneous migrations from Europe by carriers of mtDNA Haplogroup X. Other scholars suggest migrants from southwestern Europe could have adopted lifestyles similar to those of the Inuit and Yupik during the Last Glacial Maximum to cross the Atlantic along the edge of the ice sheets of the time and settle in North America (see Solutrean hypothesis).

• 3500 BC - (A) Japanese arrive at Ecuador after being blown off course.
• 2000 BC - (M) According to the Book of Mormon, people known as Jaredites arrive from the site of the Tower of Babel, fleeing social destruction caused by the confusion of language.
• 1110s BC - (A) Phoenicians cross the Strait of Gibraltar and sail the Atlantic, reaching Britain, Ireland, Azores, Canary Islands, and ultimately America.
• 7th century BC - (M) According to the Book of Mormon, the Nephites and Mulekites, two small groups of Jews fleeing the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians, reach America.
• 4th century BC - (A) Greek sailors, among them Euphemus, arrive at the American shores.
• 2nd century BC - (A) Roman merchants traded with America, bringing the pineapple to Europe.
• 1st century BC - (A) Indian (Native American?) castaways to the coasts of Germania are given to the Romans as a present from a Germanic king, according to Caecilius Metellus and others

• 530 - (A, M) Saint Brendan, an Irish monk, visits mysterious islands to the west.
• 6th century - (A, M) Hui Shen, (also spelled Hwui Shan or Huishen) a Chinese buddhist monk, spends 40 years in a land to the East, called Fusang, whose location is unclear; existing claims include present-day Mexico and Japan.
• 7th century (A) Fleeing Rome to escape barbarian invasions, the descendants of ancient Liburnian navigators from northern Adriatic sail by Gibraltar and Western Ocean to 'Westlands' called Semeray. In a related legend, nearly 20 Liburnian toponyms are found there (see details in Liburnian language).
• 889 - (A) The Muslim Andalusian Khashkhash Ibn Saeed Ibn Aswad of Córdoba sails from Delba (Palos) in Islamic Spain across the Atlantic Ocean and discovers a new land (see Pre-Columbian Islamic contact theories).
• 999 - (A) Muslim Ibn Farrukh from Granada sails across the Atlantic Ocean in February and after visting Guanche King Guanariga in Gando (Canary islands) continues westward where he eventually see and name two islands, Capraria and Pluitana.
• c.1000 - (H) Erik the Red and Leif Erikson, Viking navigators, discover and settle Greenland, Helluland (possibly Baffin Island), Markland (perhaps Labrador) and Vinland (probably Newfoundland). The Greenland colony lasts until the 15th century, but the estimated duration of the only known site at the Gulf of Saint Lawrence is estimated to be less than a decade.

• 11th century - (A) The leaders of Moorish moslems in Spain, Wadha El-Ameri and Zohair Al-Ameri organize an expedition across the 'Western Ocean' up to 'Westlands' (Ard-Maykola).
• 1065-1080 - (A) Date of Norwegian silver penny found in excavations at a Native American site in Maine.
• 1153 - (A) Portuguese seafarer Antonio Galvão tells that, "certain Indians" (certos Indios) were picked up at sea in 1153 and sent to Lübeck. Galvão said they were probably from Bacalao, a mythical island often believed to be Newfoundland.
• 1170 - (A, M) The Welsh Prince Madoc discovers a new land in the west and returns to Wales to recruit further settlers.
• 13th century - (A, M) Abubakari II, Prince of Mali, embarks on his legendary expedition to America.
• 14th century - (A) Polynesians bring the chicken to the coast of South America.
• c.1350 - (H) The Norse Western Settlement in Greenland is abandoned. (A) It has been speculated that the settlers may have moved to North America.
  • 1354 - (H) King Magnus IV of Sweden sends an expedition to locate the lost colony. (A) The expedition returns 1364 after allegedly having sailed past Greenland.
  • 1362 - (A) possible Norse expedition, possibly recorded in the Kensington Runestone found in 19th century near Kensington, Minnesota
• c.1380s - (A, M) the Zeno Brothers from Venice visit a vast and mysterious land.
• 1398 - (A, M) Henry Sinclair lead an expedition of Scottish knights to America.
• 1421 - (A) Zheng He, a Chinese explorer, comes to America via Africa.
• 1472/1473 - (A) The German Didrik Pining and the Portuguese navigator João Vaz Corte-Real, who is granted the title "discoverer of the Land of the Codfish" (possibly "Terra Nova" - Newfoundland) allegedly visit Canada in the service of Portugal
• 1480 - (A) Bristol fishermen first arrive at Newfoundland by 1475 and has established a facility for processing fish there in 1480. Richard Amerike was involved with shipping salt (for salting fish) to these men at a place they had named Brassyle.
• mid-15th century - (A) Basque cod fishermen arrive in North America in pursuit of their catch.
• 1492 - (H) Christopher Columbus lands somewhere in the Bahamas.

• Pre-Columbian trans-oceanic contact
• Archaeology timelines
• Timelines of the Americas