Erdogan says Islamic explorers discovered America 3 centuries before Columbus

Only problem, Vikings were there even before.

This guy, he's completely lost his marbles. Turks would do well to kick him out of office soon.

Right, and Muhammed helped the Mayans build their society, right?

How can anyone claim to "discover" areas that are already long-populated? If that's possible, then Perry "discovered" Japan. No?

Was thinking the same JG, the American indians discovered America. As for the first visitors from other continents, China, Japan, Norway, now Turkey. Fact is Spain and Christopher Columbus is 'documented' to have rediscovered America.

Only problem.... Native Americans were there BEFORE any Vikings, Chinese, Italians, Brits, Spaniards, or Muslims... end of discussion!

Okisurfer: technically yes but they weren't Native Americans. They probably came through the Bering Strait.

China will soon claim America to have been discovered by Chinese before anyone else. After all, American Indians are actually Chinese, and so America is inherently part of Chinese territory.

Erdogan forgot that Islam was a new religion and was found between 4-5 century after Christianity. There is no single word of Muslim faith in U.S. constitution, and it will stay that way. The early arrivals and the natives of the Americas did not march to conquer the rest with sword under the name of Allah as Arabia and Turkey. Saddam Hussein, Gaddhafi are all gone, and now an emperor or Islamic messiah is in the making? Watch your are asking for!

@tumbledry, that the NORTH Americans (Canadians) refer to the indigenous as First Nations Peoples.

Full3Mtal:

" This guy, he's completely lost his marbles. Turks would do well to kick him out of office soon. "

Not going to happen. Secular Turks dislike him, but he has the uneducated, religionist Anatolian masses behind him, and they are the ones with the big families. Pure demographics ensures that Erdogan and his islamist party will stay in power and continue to dismantle Kemalism. The future of Egypt is islamist... wait for more announcments like this.

Bahahaha. This is a new one for me. Everyone seems to have a theory on how their discovered the Americas. Guess they think they can cash in on that some how...

Some Native Americans had legends of giants being in the land before they got there. Archeological evidence backs this up. Look up the Newark Circle Mounds, for starters. There are more...

If the guy had more convincing arguments and solid proof that it might be worth looking at, but his claims sound pretty ridiculous and self-serving. As for 'Vikings may have gotten there before Columbus', I don't believe it's a 'may' but fact, with settlements having been found in NA (modern day Newfoundland) and also in Greenland. And yeah, obviously Native North Americans (or First Nations Peoples) were there before that, but can you say they 'discovered' the Americas if they were merely migrating and not just exploring and moving back and forth?

In any case, what Erdogan is suggesting can at BEST be presented as a story, but shouldn't be taught as fact in the history books.

If I was Turkish I'd be embarrassed by this clown.

He's been smoking WaaaaaaY too much of that Hashish that his country is famous for.

Fwiw, here is the article that Erdogan seems to base his claim on:

http://www.sunnah.org/history/precolmb.htm

The author also claims that there are ruins of ancienc mosques and Koranic inscriptions in Texas and Nevada. Has anyone heard of those?

Even if its true it would seem the discovers did little with their discovery. Didnt even mark it on a map. Thats just irresponsible if you ask me.

They did not believe in the leaders who closed the Dark Ages

The Dark Ages have been closed? Has anyone mentioned this to ISIS?

If the Muslims got to the western hemisphere they would have written about it. Back then they were good at such things. Nowadays it's all distortion to use religion as an excuse for excesses by repressive governments.

If one wishes to actually investigate the evidence for these claims, it would helpful to remember that the use of the compass and devices for calculating the height of constellations in order to locate a ships position were in use in China and the Islamic culture from at least the twelfth century. In fact Christian Spains initial naval success was in part due to inheritance of middle eastern knowledge though the previous Islamic control of Spain, which continued over parts of Spain up to 1492, the year of Columbus' famous first voyage.

Some claims of evidence for Islamic journeys to the America's can be found on the URL: http://historyofislam.com/contents/the-classical-period/the-african-and-muslim-discovery-of-america-before-columbus/

A quick glance reveals some claims that look like they might be reasonable, and others that to me appear highly improbable. There are references that could be followed up. There is a claim that Al-Masudi, a verified Islamic historian with a wide array of world knowledge from China to Europe and Russia, recounted a 9th century voyage from Spain to the Americas in his book "The Meadows of Gold and Mines of Gems". Unfortunately, only part of the book is available in English online, and I could find nothing there.

To me it seems quite plausible (but not necessarily true) that Columbus had heard garbled rumors though verbally transmitted history of previous sailing voyages to the West, and it was part of his inspiration.

If Erdogan's claims bring more focus on clarifying this interesting subject, I would welcome it.

There is some evidence to suggest that ancient Japanese discovered the Americas before any Europeans. Samples of pottery found in South America look strikingly similar to Jomon period pottery from old Japan.