Was Columbus the discoverer of America? Detailed answer

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Was Columbus the discoverer of America? Detailed answer

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Was Columbus the discoverer of America?

When we say "opened", we give this word a special meaning. We believe that people, representatives of another civilization, visited some region that was unknown to it. As we know, the traveler often suddenly discovers that in the place that he "discovered" there already exists a civilization, some kind of population lives. Why not say that it was the population who discovered this place?

From the point of view of Western civilization, we say that Columbus discovered America. This is so because after his discovery of the New World, this region began to be settled and settled by representatives of the Old World. But even 500 years before the birth of Columbus, the ancient Scandinavians also made their "discovery". Sailing westward, they discovered Iceland, then Greenland, and finally the Americas.

Do you know that the Chinese reported even earlier voyages of Chinese sailors who discovered that part of America that is now known as California? And the inhabitants of the South Sea Islands even now in their songs remember the great people of the past, who sailed to South America long before the white man reached it.

As far as we know, there was a period of discovery thousands of years ago. And no doubt there was a time of discovery long before Columbus. Perhaps it should be said that neither Columbus nor the Scandinavians discovered America long before him. After all, long before the appearance of the white man, these lands were already inhabited by the Indians.

And, perhaps, it should be said that it was they who went on a journey of discovery. They are believed to have originated from Asia, although we do not know when or how they made such a journey. They may have reached America within a few hundred years using different routes. Perhaps they sent their scouts ahead in search of sea and land routes. These scouts were explorers and travelers, and perhaps they were the ones who discovered America!

Author: Likum A.

Random interesting fact from the Great Encyclopedia:

What is instinct?

Most of us think that we do every action consciously - so we sit down, stand up, shake hands with each other, because we want to. But in fact, the actions of people and all living beings are not so easily explained. For example, when you ride a bike, you can make hundreds of movements without thinking about how you do them. Your actions are the result of experience and skill.

Let's say you touch something hot and immediately pull your finger away. You don't think about pulling your finger away - you just do it. This action is instinctive.

Consider another example where our actions are not subject to prior reflection. Are you hungry. You don't always say to yourself, "I'm hungry, I'll go and find food." You just go and eat. Can this action be called instinct? One way or another, people do indeed have instincts (such as hunger, sexual, defensive, etc.), although some psychologists argue that this is not true. But we know that other animals act instinctively.

An instinct is a reaction of the body that occurs in response to external or internal irritation. For example, a bird builds a nest by collecting feathers, blades of grass, twigs. She fixes all this on a branch or some ledge in such a way that the nest has a certain size and is very stable. Birds of different species nests differ from each other, have their own characteristics. The only thing that can explain such abilities of a bird is instinct.

Instinctive actions in living beings always arise from internal or external stimuli, such as hunger, fear or sexual desire. It is quite probable that certain changes in the glands of internal secretion in birds and animals lead them to such manifestations which we call instincts. Foraging, morning chirping, mothering, migration and hibernation are all manifestations of glandular activity in animals.

Thus, the instinctive behavior of all living beings corresponds to the vital needs of the organism.

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The fact is that if the windmills are placed too tightly, then their overall efficiency will drop, since the wind power will be spent on the rotation of the blades. Robert Whittlesey calculated an alternative windmill system. In them, the blades do not rotate perpendicularly, but parallel to the surface of the earth, and the windmills themselves are located in the same way as fish in a school.

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