Customer Reviews

Columbus Was Last: From 200,000 BC to 1492, A Heretical History of Who Was First

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Huyghe begins by reviewing the growing evidence for early settlement of the Americas which is becoming the new paradigm. This establishes that civilization that had a longer time to advance than previously thought, but as Huyghe reminds us, the many differences among "native" populations suggest "the impact of transoceanic latecomers."

Readers will be fascinated by the possibility of Chinese surveyors Ta-Chang and Shu-Hai exploring America over 4000 years ago as recorded in the Chinese Shan Hai Ching texts. This isn't the voyage detailed in Gavin Menzies' book 1421: The year China Discovered America. As he does elsewhere, Huyghe usually doesn't shy away from controversy, here noting the problems with dating and difficulties with matching the text with real locales. The text does reveal locations and peoples that could very well be on this side of the Pacific.

Northeast of Toronto in Peterbourgh is an inscription attributed to early Norse traders 3500 years ago. Such voyages would explain where all of the tons of copper mined from the Lake Superior region went to: Bronze Age Europe. The author then reviews a large sampling of inscriptions found around the Western Hemisphere attributed to Celts, Libyans and others.

He includes more intriguing Chinese voyages, to possible Roman contacts to Polynesians who seem to have left their mark. Plant life found in countries other than their origin. Architecture and artifacts nearly identical to that of foreign lands. One begins to wonder why more scholars don't take such early voyages seriously. And of course, no book like this would be complete without the voyage of Irish monk St. Brendan.

If any voyage should be taken seriously, perhaps Brendan's is it. We know monks fled Ireland from the Vikings and traveled throughout the Atlantic. We know the Vikings found monks in Greenland. And Viking sagas detail Irish found in North America. We made the mistake of not trusting the Norse sagas once before.

This is only a sampling of the voyages of pre-Columbus explorations that Huyghe surveys in his book. This compendium is a must for those interested in America's prehistory. Hopefully the author will produce an updated edition, but until then this book remains an "indispensable history."

What really worked for me was that Mr. Huyghes is able to balance an open-minded viewpoint with rational skepticism. Add to that a comprehensiveness that is (as far as I know) unparalleled and you have a book that is truly unique.

Anyone interested in the early history of the Americans owes it to themselves to pick this up. It is not only a fantastic introduction to some of the more under-reported research in this area, it is also quite readable.

"Columbus Was Last" is an excellent read for those curious about the pre-recorded (or was it?) history of the Americas. The chapters are both good storytelling and introductory research that engages the reader and has him/her wanting to learn more. The author undeniably leaves the reader asking more questions than there are answers. There is just enough in each of the chapters to provide the inquisitive something to chew on and digest, without being too incredibly detailed in minute or trivial factoids. For the serious researcher of American pre-history, this is recommended reading as a preview for further research that suits your particular interest.

For one to really understand the greater history of the world, this book makes a good argument to include the Americas as a bigger part in it than what most academic researchers and scholars have been giving it for the past several centuries. Perhaps it is time to open up the minds - and the textbooks of our colleges and high school history programs and rethink how we are teaching the history of the Americas...there truly is so much out there that needs to be told, yet the facts have been largely ignored or suppressed.

While some subjects are and will remain controversial, it is through controversy that we gain new thoughts and ideas, and confirm or deny things to be true. As a human society, what we really know about ourselves only goes back a few thousand years. And, in those few thousand years, we have only recorded a very small percentage of all the cultures and peoples that have lived and dies on this Earth. Books like this give the opportunity for discovery learning.

This book leaves the reader no doubt that the Americas have been "discovered" over and over again, and is a worthwhile introductory read that will lead curious minds towards more detailed researh studies and publications.

ESW

I thought there might be more written or oral evidence in the book, however I found that it was more of an archelogical and anthropological examination of evidence. I have found this quite intriguing and mind-opening. I've always heard suspicions of the Vikings and obviously other Europeans before Columbus, however I was most intrigued by the amount of data put forth about MANY different nationalities visiting very early on WAAAAAAY before even Leif Eriksson. The Lybians, the Romans, The Chinese, the Afghans, Japanese, Polynesians, Scandinavian... the list continues. If you love the mystery of history and discovering little known or taboo subjects like who "discovered" America - this is definately your best bet!

I like learning about politically incorrect history, but sadly most writers today are unorganized and seem to be pushing their agendas on their readers without good evidence to support them. However, this was not the case in this book.

Even though I have done my own personal studying about pre-Columbian America and some of this stuff was not new to me, it was nonetheless fascinating. Huyghe dedicates entire chapters to a specific people, and he offers good evidence for them having been in America before Columbus. Unlike his peers, Huyghe is willing to mention problems with these theories and to show both sides of the issue; he allows for the reader to determine if the evidence is good enough or if it's not real. The book itself was well-written and well-organized, making it easy to read and understand.

A minor nitpicky thing is that I'm surprised Huyghe didn't mention the Solutrean theory, which says that Europeans during the Ice Age sailed to America along the ice sheets and settled the area several centuries before the Asiatic peoples arrived. Despite this, Huyghe was detailed and offered some interesting facts. I really enjoyed reading this book.

A very well done survey of voyages of exploration, performed long before Columbus.

The author makes the long over due point that we, in the West, must lose our Euro-Centric view of history and technology. That just because some nations of the world are not, today, leaders in the area of technology, does not mean that such has been true in the past, as well. Circumstances change with the whims, and prejudices of governments.