When did other nations learn of the New World?

[Emperor RyRy]

I's writing about a Genovese merchant who spends most of his time trading in Spain and has since the 1480s. Since this takes place in 1494, I was wondering if anyone knew the New World existed other than Colombus, the royal family, the government, and some troops.

 

[Avrorrange]

Portugal found out first,faster than Castille,because Columbus went directly to Lisbon first during his return trip to brag to the King of Portugal about it(since he thought that the King of Portugal sort of snubbed him earlier by not employing him),instead of returning immediately to Castille.

 

[Emperor RyRy]

Portugal found out first,faster than Castille,because Columbus went directly to Lisbon first during his return trip to brag to the King of Portugal about it(since he thought that the King of Portugal sort of snubbed him earlier by not employing him),instead of returning immediately to Castille.

Ha! That's actually pretty great.

 

[Avrorrange]

Ha! That's actually pretty great.

The man didn't bother to maintain any discretion and basically bragged to everyone he met about it everywhere he went.The moment he landed in Portugal,everyone basically knew about it.

 

[Emperor RyRy]

The man didn't bother to maintain any discretion and basically bragged to everyone he met about it everywhere he went.The moment he landed in Portugal,everyone basically knew about it.

I would too if I had offered so many people the chance to get rich and each one say "fuck you" in early renaissance nobility terms.

 

[Avrorrange]

I would too if I had offered so many people the chance to get rich and each one say "fuck you" in early renaissance nobility terms.

His actual employers aren't too happy about it though.Portugal and Castille almost went to war with each other because the knowledge was leaked prematurely.More importantly,the Portugese originally planned to detain Columbus and his crew,possibly kill them off and then claim that they were the ones who found the New World after they learned what had happened.

 

[Sian]

Now that might actually be an interesting PoD, although the chance of succes for Portugal to get away with it is questionable

 

[CarribeanViking]

There was fishing off the Grand Banks from about the 1350's, from the Breton coast and the Western Isles of Scotland; there are unconfirmed reports of a Genoese naval officer visiting North America in 1404, but as he was in the pay of the Lordship of the Isles at the time it made little impression on Europe as a whole.

So, basically, the Norse, Scots, Bretons and Genoese were aware of the existence of America long before it became an accepted fact, but for their own reasons each did relatively little about it apart from go fishing.

 

[Mongo]

There was fishing off the Grand Banks from about the 1350's, from the Breton coast and the Western Isles of Scotland; there are unconfirmed reports of a Genoese naval officer visiting North America in 1404, but as he was in the pay of the Lordship of the Isles at the time it made little impression on Europe as a whole.

From the Wikipedia article about the History of Greenland:

"After 1408, when a marriage was recorded, not many written records mention the settlers. There are correspondence between the Pope and the Biskop Bertold af Garde from same year. The Danish Cartographer Claudius Clavus seems to have visited Greenland in 1420 from documents written by Nicolas Germanus and Henricus Martellus who had access to original cartographic notes and map by Clavus. In a letter dated 1448 from Rome, the Pope Nicholas V prescribe the bishops of Skálholt and Hólar (the two Icelandic episcopal sees) to ensure to provide the inhabitants of Greenland with priests and a bishop, the latter of which they hadn't had in the 30 years since the apparent coming of the heathens when most churches were destroyed and the people taken away as prisoners."

So if Greenland is counted as part of North America (which it generally is), there may have been continuous European occupation of North America since the 980s, when the first Norse settlements were established there. It depends when the Norse settlements in Greenland were finally abandoned, and when the first unofficial fishing settlements were established in Newfoundland.

 

[funnyhat]

Portugal found out first,faster than Castille,because Columbus went directly to Lisbon first during his return trip to brag to the King of Portugal about it(since he thought that the King of Portugal sort of snubbed him earlier by not employing him),instead of returning immediately to Castille.

But of course, he thought he'd reached Asia, not a New World. It took a few more years for people to put two and two together about what this landmass was.

There was fishing off the Grand Banks from about the 1350's, from the Breton coast and the Western Isles of Scotland; there are unconfirmed reports of a Genoese naval officer visiting North America in 1404, but as he was in the pay of the Lordship of the Isles at the time it made little impression on Europe as a whole.

So, basically, the Norse, Scots, Bretons and Genoese were aware of the existence of America long before it became an accepted fact, but for their own reasons each did relatively little about it apart from go fishing.

Basically, they were aware of Newfoundland and some nearby islands. They did not know (as far as we can tell) of the much warmer regions further south.

 

[Mongo]

'Newfoundland' has to be the most inappropriate name for a region of North America that I am aware of, and is getting more so with each century that passes, but 'Oldfoundland' sounds even more ridiculous.