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Columbus Was Last: From 200,000 BC to 1492, A Heretical History of Who Was First
A challenge to myths about Columbus's "discovery" of the New World cites authentic archaeological discoveries that prove that Chinese, Japanese, Polynesians, Phoenicians, Romans, Celts, Libyans, Jews, Hindi, and native Americans inhabited the Americas prior to 1492.
272 pages, Hardcover
First published October 1, 1992
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May 23, 2015I have a confession. I’ve never been a fan of Columbus. For some reason I could not get all excited about someone who “discovered” the American continents – when there were already a whole lot of people here. I get it. The colonists wanted some pin in history that didn’t draw a direct line to England. Some point in history that said, “This is where it all began.” Except, well, Columbus was far from first; and it was in a photo finish for last.
The story of Columbus is filled with ambiguities. We don’t know for sure where he came from, who he really was, or what his true motives were. We don’t even know for sure where he is buried. His logs are filled with contradictions and he did not receive the riches and notoriety he sought in his own life time. It wasn’t until the nineteenth century that he received general recognition. The “Admiral of the Ocean Sea” was somewhat of a flop in his own time even if he made at least four successful voyages to the “New World.”
That said, questions regarding the settlement, and repeated “discovery” of the Americas, are still suffering from heated debate. The only events of note that appear to be generally accepted in the academic community are the arrival of homo sapiens over a land bridge or sea route from Asia to Alaska (the Bering Strait), and the occasional visitations and settlement attempts by the Nordic peoples.
When the migration to the east occurred, and how often, is a battle ground in the literature. Each year, each decade, each millennia that the date is pushed back is a hard won victory. Although it is now generally accepted (and supported by archeology) that the Vikings arrived in the Americas around 1000 CE, where all of their landings took place and how long these places were occupied seems to be up in the air. Meanwhile, other stories, legends, and evidence, are constantly brewing in a pot of, ‘Who was here first, how often, where and what were they doing?” And that is the kind of mystery I love.
Huygue’s little book is an easy read that leads the curious through the tales, legends, and evidence of previous visitations to the American continents. He collects what we know about the ancient tales and the archeological evidence unearthed in pottery, inscriptions, sculpture and artifacts. He provides sign posts to those who have compared flora and fauna, common language, rituals and dress. He also provides references to those who have analyzed the ancient tales to locate possible routes of travel and settlement. There are also descriptions of carvings throughout South America which depict races not currently accepted as visitors and matches them with corresponding tales and legends from possible, or probable, points of origin.
This was a very busy place. Collectively, there is at least some indication that these lands were visited by the Chinese, the Japanese, the Polynesians, the Irish, the Africans, the Phoenicians, the Romans, the Arabs and the Jews. The book mentions but does not address possible visitations by the Celts and the Greeks. At the time of Columbus, there appears to be a number of records, maps, and sailors’ tales from the Danes, the Portuguese, the British and the Irish. And then there is the Welsh bastard prince, Madoc.
This book is not a fanciful collection of theories. The notes and bibliography support the research and provide a road map to a serious student of the history of this part of the world. Huyghe also provides details when the authenticity of an artifact is questionable. I found the roots of many of the bits and pieces I have found in academic literature and well researched historical fiction.
The journey of Columbus did indeed have a major historical impact on the future of these lands. Even if the original result was slavery, exploitation and disease, I would like to think that at least some of the heirs to these lands have contributed much that was beneficial to the human race. Columbus’ journey, and those of his contemporaries, “stuck” and the whole world learned of, and remembered, the land across the seas.
The point, I think, is that we really can’t approach the world with a sense of absolute. It is arrogance to believe we have it all figured out when we know so little about what has come before. As my poem says, “Is it something that we’ve left behind, Or something that we’ve yet to find? …” Enjoy the magic of the journey. Don’t be swayed by every whimsical interpretation of the bits and pieces we find of the past; but keep an open mind. Who knows what treasures we have yet to find? And just what they might tell us about who we are?
The story of Columbus is filled with ambiguities. We don’t know for sure where he came from, who he really was, or what his true motives were. We don’t even know for sure where he is buried. His logs are filled with contradictions and he did not receive the riches and notoriety he sought in his own life time. It wasn’t until the nineteenth century that he received general recognition. The “Admiral of the Ocean Sea” was somewhat of a flop in his own time even if he made at least four successful voyages to the “New World.”
That said, questions regarding the settlement, and repeated “discovery” of the Americas, are still suffering from heated debate. The only events of note that appear to be generally accepted in the academic community are the arrival of homo sapiens over a land bridge or sea route from Asia to Alaska (the Bering Strait), and the occasional visitations and settlement attempts by the Nordic peoples.
When the migration to the east occurred, and how often, is a battle ground in the literature. Each year, each decade, each millennia that the date is pushed back is a hard won victory. Although it is now generally accepted (and supported by archeology) that the Vikings arrived in the Americas around 1000 CE, where all of their landings took place and how long these places were occupied seems to be up in the air. Meanwhile, other stories, legends, and evidence, are constantly brewing in a pot of, ‘Who was here first, how often, where and what were they doing?” And that is the kind of mystery I love.
Huygue’s little book is an easy read that leads the curious through the tales, legends, and evidence of previous visitations to the American continents. He collects what we know about the ancient tales and the archeological evidence unearthed in pottery, inscriptions, sculpture and artifacts. He provides sign posts to those who have compared flora and fauna, common language, rituals and dress. He also provides references to those who have analyzed the ancient tales to locate possible routes of travel and settlement. There are also descriptions of carvings throughout South America which depict races not currently accepted as visitors and matches them with corresponding tales and legends from possible, or probable, points of origin.
This was a very busy place. Collectively, there is at least some indication that these lands were visited by the Chinese, the Japanese, the Polynesians, the Irish, the Africans, the Phoenicians, the Romans, the Arabs and the Jews. The book mentions but does not address possible visitations by the Celts and the Greeks. At the time of Columbus, there appears to be a number of records, maps, and sailors’ tales from the Danes, the Portuguese, the British and the Irish. And then there is the Welsh bastard prince, Madoc.
This book is not a fanciful collection of theories. The notes and bibliography support the research and provide a road map to a serious student of the history of this part of the world. Huyghe also provides details when the authenticity of an artifact is questionable. I found the roots of many of the bits and pieces I have found in academic literature and well researched historical fiction.
The journey of Columbus did indeed have a major historical impact on the future of these lands. Even if the original result was slavery, exploitation and disease, I would like to think that at least some of the heirs to these lands have contributed much that was beneficial to the human race. Columbus’ journey, and those of his contemporaries, “stuck” and the whole world learned of, and remembered, the land across the seas.
The point, I think, is that we really can’t approach the world with a sense of absolute. It is arrogance to believe we have it all figured out when we know so little about what has come before. As my poem says, “Is it something that we’ve left behind, Or something that we’ve yet to find? …” Enjoy the magic of the journey. Don’t be swayed by every whimsical interpretation of the bits and pieces we find of the past; but keep an open mind. Who knows what treasures we have yet to find? And just what they might tell us about who we are?
October 17, 2013
I have a love for pre-Columbian American history, especially in regards to what is known as "Pre-Columbian European Contact," so this book was a logical one for me to read after reading some of Barry Fell's "America BC."
Huyghe has several chapters dedicated to evidence of people from Europe, Africa, and Asia being in America either before the supposed arrival of the Siberians during the Ice Age or before Columbus' arrival. He cites legends, physical evidence, ancient maps, and more. However, unlike most guys who write history books, Huyghe merely presents the evidence, some of which is controversial or shaky, and allows the reader to decide if there is the possibility of such things being true.
Huyghe's book is well-written, easy to follow, and well-organized. He's one of those rare historians who also is a good writer. I heartily recommend the book and consider it the better successor to Fell's book.
Huyghe has several chapters dedicated to evidence of people from Europe, Africa, and Asia being in America either before the supposed arrival of the Siberians during the Ice Age or before Columbus' arrival. He cites legends, physical evidence, ancient maps, and more. However, unlike most guys who write history books, Huyghe merely presents the evidence, some of which is controversial or shaky, and allows the reader to decide if there is the possibility of such things being true.
Huyghe's book is well-written, easy to follow, and well-organized. He's one of those rare historians who also is a good writer. I heartily recommend the book and consider it the better successor to Fell's book.
August 2, 2017
Huyghe is not a historian, but a science writer who presents, in Columbus Was Last, a broad overview of suspected pre-Columbian trips from the Eastern to the Western Hemisphere. Huyghes presents the evidence and arguments for and against each trip, leaving the reader to come to his or her own conclusions about each trip. However, the overall idea is that surely some of these trips really did reach the American continent. The book is not sensationalist, but level-headed.
May 4, 2010
This book changed my perspective on history a good bit -- the difference what humans have actually done, and what we remember and have recorded that they have done. This book is thorough on the subject of pre-historic exploration of the Americas and quite well written too.
December 26, 2019
This one juuuust squeaks by to a 3. The concept is obviously compelling, but be prepared to read this book with your phone Google-ready: Huyge gives airtime to what seems like every wild theory out there about voyages to America. Painstakingly based in research this is not, lol. But taken as a collection of stories and agnostic presentation of evidence (some of it QUITE flimsy), this book is entertaining and serves as a great jumping-off point for further research. And you can’t really argue with his thesis, even nearly 30 years after publication: though his voyage was real, Columbus was a bit of a charlatan that gets waaaayyyy too much credit, and his lionization is and always has been politically motivated.
The book is arranged chronologically and offers claims of contact from: ancient Japanese, Chinese, Norse, Phoenicians/Libyans, Romans, Polynesians (I found this one pretty credible), Chinese again, Irish via St. Brendan (who got written up in medieval times & famous for it), Norse again (the only CONFIRMED discovery, though Huyge complicates the details), Welsh via Madoc, Mali and/or Nubians (anyway black people, and it’s nice to see this included), Italians and then a bunch of claimants close to the time of Columbus’s discovery - most amusingly it’s possible some sailors from Bristol engaged in illegal fishing practices might have made it to Newfoundland in the 1480s.
It’s sooooo hard to really believe any of this! But at least in the last chapter Huyge shows how essentially shady the account we have of Columbus’s voyage and discovery is - very much in line with the questions about the ones we have that may have come before. We don’t know who Columbus really was (maybe Jewish?), and it’s likely he relied on voyages and maps that came before, since by his own log entries he was a pretty terrible sailor.
To give some credit though, for as much as is dubious in this book, Huyge may be proven right in some areas. I originally picked this book up because I wanted to learn more about first Americans / early native cultures like the Mississippians. The first chapter in this book tackles this topic, asserting that early humans were on this land mass possibly thousands of years before the Clovis people (confirmed to be about 10k years ago). And JUST THIS MONTH (Dec 2019) the cover story in The Smithsonian is about discovering evidence that this is the case.
So maybe I’ll hang on to this book for a while, see what plays out in the next 30 years. In the meantime, lots of food for thought or fiction in this book.
The book is arranged chronologically and offers claims of contact from: ancient Japanese, Chinese, Norse, Phoenicians/Libyans, Romans, Polynesians (I found this one pretty credible), Chinese again, Irish via St. Brendan (who got written up in medieval times & famous for it), Norse again (the only CONFIRMED discovery, though Huyge complicates the details), Welsh via Madoc, Mali and/or Nubians (anyway black people, and it’s nice to see this included), Italians and then a bunch of claimants close to the time of Columbus’s discovery - most amusingly it’s possible some sailors from Bristol engaged in illegal fishing practices might have made it to Newfoundland in the 1480s.
It’s sooooo hard to really believe any of this! But at least in the last chapter Huyge shows how essentially shady the account we have of Columbus’s voyage and discovery is - very much in line with the questions about the ones we have that may have come before. We don’t know who Columbus really was (maybe Jewish?), and it’s likely he relied on voyages and maps that came before, since by his own log entries he was a pretty terrible sailor.
To give some credit though, for as much as is dubious in this book, Huyge may be proven right in some areas. I originally picked this book up because I wanted to learn more about first Americans / early native cultures like the Mississippians. The first chapter in this book tackles this topic, asserting that early humans were on this land mass possibly thousands of years before the Clovis people (confirmed to be about 10k years ago). And JUST THIS MONTH (Dec 2019) the cover story in The Smithsonian is about discovering evidence that this is the case.
So maybe I’ll hang on to this book for a while, see what plays out in the next 30 years. In the meantime, lots of food for thought or fiction in this book.
May 18, 2023
This book needed to be written, and it's good to see Columbus taken down a notch. It's not the author's fault that the book is dated after 30+ years: we now also have the Chinese admiral Zheng He (Gavin Menzies' "1421"), the Carthaginians (who fled doomed Carthage, reached South America and there mixed with the Chachapoyas, who sometimes have red hair), and the Minoans (who went island-hopping in the North-Atlantic and reached Newfoundland via Britain, Orkney, Shetland, the Faer Oer, Iceland and Greenland). And I'm sure there's room for more.
However, the author's general approach is disappointingly uncricital, failing to discern between the probable, the possible, and pseudohistorical, -archeological and -linguistic nonsense theories by the likes of Ivan van Sertima, and above all, Barry Fell. We are told he was an emeritus Harvard professor - but not that he was actually an invertebrate zoologist and neither a historian, nor an archeologist, nor a linguist. (Having a linguistic background, I never stop wondering why language is such a favourite stomping ground for charlatans who think that comparative linguistics is all about spotting similar words in different languages. But this aside.)
"Columbus was Last" is also a textbook example of diffusionism. Because some Meso-American designs are reminiscent of some Asian cultures, the natives must have been influenced by them. This completely disregards the fact that many things have been invented independently by different peoples in the course of history, and it is also deeply racist. If all the purported influences from Eurasian and African "discoverers" are added up, the native peoples of the Americans end up being denied all ingenuity and creativity. For those who'd like to read more about the pseudohistory of the Americas, and about difussionism, I can recommend this article: https://www.hallofmaat.com/precolumbi...
Finally, the book is methodically flawed: the author often based himself on a single author. In the case of Madoc, this was Richard Deacon, who apparently unearthed the book all experts in medieval Dutch have vainly been searching for during the last two ceuturies: the "Madocke" by Flemish poet Willem, best known for his Reynard Fox satire. At least, I assume Deacon's book was the source for the detailed summary of this vanished poem in the Madoc chapter, but as the author's name, Huyghe, looks suspiciously Flemish, maybe we're dealing with a private joke here. Just in case, I
upgraded my 2,5 stars to 3.
However, the author's general approach is disappointingly uncricital, failing to discern between the probable, the possible, and pseudohistorical, -archeological and -linguistic nonsense theories by the likes of Ivan van Sertima, and above all, Barry Fell. We are told he was an emeritus Harvard professor - but not that he was actually an invertebrate zoologist and neither a historian, nor an archeologist, nor a linguist. (Having a linguistic background, I never stop wondering why language is such a favourite stomping ground for charlatans who think that comparative linguistics is all about spotting similar words in different languages. But this aside.)
"Columbus was Last" is also a textbook example of diffusionism. Because some Meso-American designs are reminiscent of some Asian cultures, the natives must have been influenced by them. This completely disregards the fact that many things have been invented independently by different peoples in the course of history, and it is also deeply racist. If all the purported influences from Eurasian and African "discoverers" are added up, the native peoples of the Americans end up being denied all ingenuity and creativity. For those who'd like to read more about the pseudohistory of the Americas, and about difussionism, I can recommend this article: https://www.hallofmaat.com/precolumbi...
Finally, the book is methodically flawed: the author often based himself on a single author. In the case of Madoc, this was Richard Deacon, who apparently unearthed the book all experts in medieval Dutch have vainly been searching for during the last two ceuturies: the "Madocke" by Flemish poet Willem, best known for his Reynard Fox satire. At least, I assume Deacon's book was the source for the detailed summary of this vanished poem in the Madoc chapter, but as the author's name, Huyghe, looks suspiciously Flemish, maybe we're dealing with a private joke here. Just in case, I
upgraded my 2,5 stars to 3.
May 11, 2020
I picked this book up in a used bookstore on Columbus Day one year. I had recently read 1491 and 1493 by Charles Mann and Columbus: The Four Voyages by Lawrence Begreen, and I had thoroughly enjoyed them. But because I heard throughout the years speculation on other pre-Columbian travelers to the Americas, I made the singular mistake of picking up the book 1421: The Year China Discovered The World by Gavin Menzies....an author who freely admits in the introduction that all experts in history hate his work essentially because they're jealous of how smart he is. Oh brother!
So I came to this book, picking it up at a used bookstore one Columbus Day. I read the reviews and had no such red flags as I did before trying to read 1421. Unfortunately, there is a lot of pseudo-historical dirty bath water with a small baby of truth here. Patrick Huyghe lists a cavalcade of crackpot theories, interspersed with some real evidence. For example: out of 17 chapters each listing a possible voyage to the Americas, there are only three that actually have the backing of most historians--the first Native Americans that probably came across the Bering Strait, Columbus himself, and the somewhat-known travels of Leif Erickson to Greenland and Newfoundland. The proof is well documented in other sources for a Norse visit at this time. The problem here is that not only does Huyghe explain the Norse travels to Newfoundland, he also talks about the Norse going into the Hudson Bay, Alaska, down the coast and ending up in Mexico...including one far out story of the Norse being shipwrecked in the California desert. I think the possibilities may have been pushed too far.
But if it is a cavalcade list of crackpot theories, it is a list of those theories nonetheless. And for that, the book is valuable. Although it is irksome to believe that people in the United States thought so little of American Indians that they ascribed all sorts of indigenous culture to more-advanced Old World influences, it is a fascinating tour through both the mysteries and hoaxes of American frontier history. It should be noted that I'm not sure if the author actually believes the theories he's presenting or not.
So I came to this book, picking it up at a used bookstore one Columbus Day. I read the reviews and had no such red flags as I did before trying to read 1421. Unfortunately, there is a lot of pseudo-historical dirty bath water with a small baby of truth here. Patrick Huyghe lists a cavalcade of crackpot theories, interspersed with some real evidence. For example: out of 17 chapters each listing a possible voyage to the Americas, there are only three that actually have the backing of most historians--the first Native Americans that probably came across the Bering Strait, Columbus himself, and the somewhat-known travels of Leif Erickson to Greenland and Newfoundland. The proof is well documented in other sources for a Norse visit at this time. The problem here is that not only does Huyghe explain the Norse travels to Newfoundland, he also talks about the Norse going into the Hudson Bay, Alaska, down the coast and ending up in Mexico...including one far out story of the Norse being shipwrecked in the California desert. I think the possibilities may have been pushed too far.
But if it is a cavalcade list of crackpot theories, it is a list of those theories nonetheless. And for that, the book is valuable. Although it is irksome to believe that people in the United States thought so little of American Indians that they ascribed all sorts of indigenous culture to more-advanced Old World influences, it is a fascinating tour through both the mysteries and hoaxes of American frontier history. It should be noted that I'm not sure if the author actually believes the theories he's presenting or not.
April 23, 2018
As you read the reviews of this interesting historical survey of the possible peoples out of antiquity who came to the Americas, sometimes accidentally, to explore, trade, exploit resources, even settle, you will realize one of the major lessons of this book: history is not written in stone. There is objective truth of what really occurred in antiquity, but we have so very little to communicate that truth, and what we have of Pre Columbian contact is so sketchy and controversial, that it is open to interpretation by a multitude of historians, anthropologists, ethnologists, many of whom have pre formed conclusions that make those academics and popularizers closed to any other interpretation but that which backs up what they have already decided to believe. The book surveys evidence of contact of Phoenician, Greek, Roman, Norse, Irish, Bristol seamen and others who may have come to the Americas before 1492, then examines the mysteries of Columbus' life that make his accounts every bit as problematical as these other peoples.
October 16, 2025
This is a pretty interesting and concise book about pre-Columbus exploration of the Americas by Western and Eastern travelers. It seems as though pretty much every civilization had “discovered” the new world before Columbus, but as the author points out, this shouldn’t diminish his accomplishment. I was especially interested in the story of St. Brenden, the Irish monk, and his encounters with native Americans.
November 18, 2017
A good overall overview of the differents people who explored the Americas before Columbus. All of the various explorers are mentioned from japanese to irish monks to the pheonicians and prince Madoc. The bibliography at the end of the book is interesting for further research. A must have book for people interested in occulted history.
June 20, 2024
Book 10 (final), Stack One
This felt more like a primer as there are lots of interesting stories that require further reading.
There had apparently been alot of research done by others prior to this book yet Huyghe fails to offer any conclusions, or even probable conclusions, at all.
There is also quite a bit of hedging, for example "But we do know what route they followed. Chances are they crossed over a land bridge...." So, is it a chance, or do we know?
Chapters are not too long and the writing flows well.
This felt more like a primer as there are lots of interesting stories that require further reading.
There had apparently been alot of research done by others prior to this book yet Huyghe fails to offer any conclusions, or even probable conclusions, at all.
There is also quite a bit of hedging, for example "But we do know what route they followed. Chances are they crossed over a land bridge...." So, is it a chance, or do we know?
Chapters are not too long and the writing flows well.
May 12, 2015
Totally derivative, this is a popular science journalist's summary of various claims to pre-Columbian explorations of the Americas ranging from the undisputed--the Norsemen--to the highly problematical. While entertaining, it is not in itself very convincing, being at best a guide to some controversies worthy of further attention. While much necessary reference is made to geography and artifacts, neither photographs nor maps are provided.
March 5, 2013
Fun - this books presents lots of "evidence" that seems flimsy, but also much that seems like it could be legitimate. At the very least this book taught me to roll my eyes whenever anyone guarantees that the Vinlanders were the first Europeans in North America.
March 18, 2025
This book offers an interesting look at possible pre-Columbian transoceanic contact with the New World, but is mired down by hoaxes and superseded theories. Though the stories of discovery have their charm, after an afternoon on the Internet most are just that–stories.
June 25, 2014
The author overstates his case constantly, but still very interesting and I believe most of it. Welsh speaking Indians!
December 21, 2015
Meso American Civilization
The Americas experience nation states at least 2000 years before Columbus. The author presented arguments about the origins of the Native Americans.
The Americas experience nation states at least 2000 years before Columbus. The author presented arguments about the origins of the Native Americans.
January 18, 2009
made me start a history kick of reading
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