For most readers, the question of who discovered America seems quite simple. Many from school know that this feat was made by Christopher Columbus - a great navigator, a native of the Italian city of Genoa. This happened in 1492.. But in reality, it’s not that simple .. Almost immediately after the epochal voyages of the Genoese, people appeared who fiercely disputed his right to the laurel wreath of the “New World Discoverer”. And over the years, their number has increased more and more .. Who was not named as the predecessors of the brave "Admiral of All Seas and Oceans"! Here and Egyptians, and Phoenicians, and Chinese, and residents of Polynesia, and the main competitors of Columbus - Scandinavian Vikings . Thus, we see that in fact the question of the true discoverer of the New World is not so simple, and the topic itself is far from exhausted.