Mysteries of American History
November 12th, 2005· Over one hundred men, women and children left Britain in 1587 to settle in the New World. They established a settlement on Roanoke Island, located on North Carolina’s coast. Every person had vanished within three years. What became of the lost colony? It is a mystery that challenges archaeologists and historians to this day.
· Who really discovered America? It’s a well known fact that people inhabited America long before Christopher Columbus landed in 1492. It is a historically recorded fact that Norse explorer, Bjarni Herjolfsson lead an expedition to North America in 986. Other explorers explored North America as well. Why then is Christopher Columbus given credit for the discovery? A mystery of history.
· Amelia Earhart was the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic. When she attempted to fly around the world, something went wrong. On June 1, 1937, her plane took off from Miami Florida, headed for Puerto Rico. All seemed to be going well. Then, on July 1, the headlines of newspapers screamed that her plane was missing. WWII was brewing in the Pacific. Was Earhart shot down and captured by the Japanese? Was she on a secret mission for the US Government? Was she seen in Japan with a male pilot, as has been reported? Were the two pilots executed by the Japanese? All of these theories have been investigated, but to this day, Earhart’s disappearance is still a mystery of history.
by Mary M. Alward
November 12th, 2005 at 7:39 pm
I love these mysteries of history articles. It’s interesting to read about things that have happened in the past and to find out that they have never been solved. Hope to see more of these here.
November 13th, 2005 at 12:17 am
I had never realized that there was a lost colony from Raoanoke Island, nor had I ever thought that someone other than Christopher Columbus could have discovered america. Food for thought.
It wasn’t long ago that I watched a documentary on Amelia Earhart. It is an intriguing story, but a male pilot was lost under similar circumstances. I forget his name now, but it seems like a rare coincidence.
Is mysteries of history a regular column here. I don’t see it in the right column. I’d like to suggest that this is a regular feature. I love this stuff.
November 13th, 2005 at 3:21 pm
These facts are very interesting. I am especially interested in the Amelia Earhart mystery. There are hundreds of mysteries that have never been solved. Like daylilly, I would like to see more of them on this website.
November 14th, 2005 at 4:28 am
Regarding Columbus, it all relies on what you understand by “discovering”. The Norse explorers visited Greenland and maybe north Canada, but their knowledge of these places never led to anything. Thanks to the Spanish expedition of Columbus, Europe did get to know the existence of a new continent, named America after Americo Vespucci, a cartographer who realized that the new continent was not the other side of Asia, but a whole new land. America’s History boosts up with the arrival of europeans. Before that, no one in the continent (Aztecs, Olmecs, mayans, Incas, native americans…) had a written record of History, only verbal tales. Columbus was the beginning of it all. That is what I understand by “discovering” America.
November 14th, 2005 at 7:32 pm
Fabian,
I don’t think that the writer is saying that Christopher Columbus shouldn’t be given credit for discovering America. I think she’s just bringing up the question of why it was specifically Columbus who received credit when so many had come before him. In my opinion, it was the Native Americans who discovered America. They walked across an ice bridge and put down their roots.
I don’t want to get into a big debate about this. I just wanted you to know that others have a different opinion and that’s what makes the trivia question on Columbus a mystery of history.
November 14th, 2005 at 10:50 pm
I read something on Roanoke Island. It seems that these people may have went to live with one of the Indian tribes in North Carolina. Later expeditions recorded natives that had gray eyes instead of the usual brown. Could these people have interbred with the natives?
November 15th, 2005 at 10:26 pm
Roanake Island has always been a mystery. I am indeed a goldengirl and we took about this when I was in grade school. No answers have ever been found. I doubt if there will ever be any. I really enjoyed this bit of trivia and hope that there will be more “Mysteries of History,” in the future.
March 14th, 2006 at 5:06 pm
dear people who wrote this thank you for all the hard work you put in to this peice amelia is my hero and now you are to for making such a butuful peice and for puttting to aside to do this it ment alot to me
from amelias biggest ten year old fan monique