Already in the ancient times some scientists thought that the world was a globe, and it would be possible to sail around it. They also believed that there were other continents. But this was all in theory. No romans or greek ever tried to find these other continents, although a greek writer Pausanias tells in the second century ad. that a sailor called Euphemus was caught by a wind in Gibraltar Strait, and drifted to the Atlantic, and into some inhabited islands in there. Some have supposed that these islands were Antillies, but it's impossible to say for sure. It might as well been Canaries. But Canaries were known to the ancient world, so Pausanias would have known if these were the islands Euphemus ended up.
But if the romans and greek did not really explore Atlantic, phoenicians did. Around 600 bc.pharaoh of Egypt, Necho, send a phoenician expedition to sail around Africa. And according to Herodotos they managed to do it. One hundred years later a carthagenian Hanna searched the african coast from Marocco to Sierra Leone, and maybe even farther. But there is no evidence that they ever went as far as America. Carthagenians guarded their trade routes jealously, so nobody knows where they actually traded in the Atlantic. But supposedly they went at least as far as Madeira. Another famous seafaring nation were the irish, who made their trips some thousand years after phoenicians. What we know about these trips for a certain is, that when vikings found Faroe-islands, there were irish there. And when the norwegians found Iceland, there were irish monks there. This proves that trips across the sea were possible with the irish vessels, and these over seas trips were indeed made. And when we know that a trip to America would have been possible with the irish vessels, we can take the old irish story about St.Brendan more seriously. According to the legends, St.Brendan made his trips in 539-551. There has been many theories about how far he managed to go, but nothing certain. Some believe that he traveled only in Hebrides, and others say he went all the way to Canada, or even to Antillies.
So far we have three possible early discoverers of America. Greek, phoenicians and irish. But all these three are only allegations. There is no hard proofs behind them. Columbus is still helding his own pretty well. But then comes prince Modoc. There has been many attemps to prove that pronce Modoc found America. Prince Modoc is in fact a historical character. He was a son of the king of Wales, Owain Gwynedd. One of Owain`s sons drove his brothers to exile after their father had died, so there was a good motive for Modoc to search for a new home, especially because he was a very famous sailor. His family was related to the king of Dublin, who was a norwegian. So we can presume that Modoc might have known about Vinland, land found by the vikings in the west, through his norwegian relatives. Apparently Modoc sailed from Wales to look for a new land in 1170. He came back after a year, and told everybody about a new land in the west. Then he took with him more people and returned to this new land, and was never seen again. This legend about Modoc has been supported by many stories about welsh-indians in America. Early british and spanish explorers reported welsh-indians everywhere, but these stories are not trustworthy. Later many travelers in North America also claimed to have visited welsh-indians. Those people who support Madoc`s claim, usually believe that a tribe called Mandans are descendents of Madoc and his folk. The theory goes as follows. Madoc sailed across the Atlantic using the very same route that Columbus later took.That's why he first found Bahamas, and then Florida, from where he proceeded to Alabama. Now this is a really odd idea. Why an earth would Madoc have used the southern route which he knew nothing about. The familiar route that vikings knew about, went from Wales to Greenland, and then down the east coast of America. Absolutely nothing indicates that Madoc took the southern route, and actually the story tells that when he sailed he went north of Ireland. But anyway, it is possible that he went as far along the coast as Alabama. And there Madoc supporters say he landed at Mobile Bay, which is likely because it really is the best place to land in the whole area.
Then it is usually believed that Madoc`s people moved from the coast to the area which is nowadays Chattanooga. This is a mountainous region. Why would the welsh want to go there? Because it represented their former home is not good enough explanation. There are two proofs to support the allegation that they actually went to Chattanooga. There are three old stone fortifications in the area, from approximately 1200s. And there is an old Cherokee legend which tells how Cherokees drove away from the area some new comers. What is supposed to support this story is the fact, that Musgogee tribe was in the same time driven away from Mexico by Aztecs, and they emigrated to this area, and Cherokees drove them away. This is of course again a very odd thing to say, because far from proving that Cherokees were driving nations away from the area at that time, it actually proves that Musgogees were there, they were the nation driven away by Cherokees, and if they really came from Mexico they also had the tecnological knowledge to build stone fortifications. We don't need welsh to build them.
From Chattanooga area Madoc`s people are said to have moved along the Mississippi-Missouri towards north, untill in 1830s we find them from the Upper Missouri, in Montana. And here in Montana they are called Mandans. but there are only old stories to support their welsh origins. And these sories about their white skin and welsh language are impossible to check out, because Mandans were almost wiped out by smallpox in 1830s, and since that they have totally assimilated with Hidatsas. Mandans are said to have lived in a fortified villages, which unlike with other tribes, were permanent. So Mandans were more advanced than other nations. This is of course no true. Even in the same area Pawnee and Arikara nations lived also in the same kind of villages, and were at least as advanced as Mandans. It is impossible to find out any kind of proofs what so ever, that Mandans were welsh. And the mistakes that people who are trying to prove otherwise do, just reveal that they don't in fact know anything about the natives. So Mandans can't be used as evidence for Madoc,a nd all we know abou thim is that he sailed west and found something. But he is a very strong candidate to beat Columbus.
But vikings were there even before Madoc, and nobody can deny their claim. Erik "the red" sailed from Iceland to Greenland in 981, and colonised it in 985. And Greenland is of course geologically part of American continent. From Greenland vikings naturally discovered nearby Baffin island, and then the American continent. Leif Eriksson went to America in about 1000 ad. He build a house to a land called Vinland. After him people from Greenland are supposed to have visited America often, trading with the indians and getting wood from MArkland. There is a mention from Iceland in 1347, which mentions ship coming from Markland with a wood-cargo. Helge Ingstad has found the ruins of a viking house from L`anse Aux Meadows in New Foundland. And this proves without a doubt that vikings really were in America long before Columbus. But there are still other candidates besides vikings and Madoc.
Propaply teh most likely discoverer of America besides vikings comes from Scotland. Discoverers name is St.Claire (or Sinclair). He was a nobleman from Northern Scotland. His estates were the last sanctuary for the religious knigts who were from teh early 1300s under persecution in France. St.Claire wanted to find a safe place for his fellows, so he organised an expedition to the west to look for a land. He might have heard about Vinland or about Madoc. But anyway, it is claimed that St.Claire actually found land. Now what makes him the most propaple is the recent fining from a church of his former estates. From a wall that was made during St.Claire`s last years they found some plants or drawings of plants that were growing only in America. The wall was made before Columbus discovered America and brought these plants to Europe, and many experts admit that it seems that St.Claire really went to America.
Bot long before St.Claire made his trip, portuguese started to explore the Atlantic. It seems that they believed that there should be islands towards west from Azores, and they were trying to find these islands. In 1473 Joao Corte Real lead an expedition towards the west from Azores. It is really likely that he discovered New Foundland. After this the story about the land in teh west spread. Sometimes in 1473-1494 king of Denmark send an expedition to go to Greenland, and it is possible that from Greenland they also went to Baffin-island. The merchants of Bristol were also very early on the move, and organised an expedition to the west in 1481. And again it's likely that they too found New Foundland. After the discoveries of british and portuguese, fishermen from Bretagne and Basque-country are said to have visited New Foundland regularly, because their best fishing areas were right next to that island. And then in 1492 came at last Columbus. He was late, really late. If we forget the phoenicians, greek and irish, still all kind of people had already in been in America. And most likely Columbus knew about them all. So it was practically impossible for him not to find land. He knew already that it was there, and he knew where. That's why it's so strange that people have later made him the founder of the new continent, when it was everything else but new. And spanish claim to the continent as discoverers of course was never valid.