Muslims, not Columbus, discovered Americas: Erdogan
19 Nov 2014 4:36 AM IST
‘Contacts between Latin America and Islam date back to the 12th century. Muslims discovered America in 1178, not Christopher Columbus,’ the conservative president said in a televised speech during an Istanbul summit of Muslim leaders from Latin America. ‘Muslim sailors arrived in America from 1178. Columbus mentioned the existence of a mosque on a hill on the Cuban coast,’ Erdogan said.
Erdogan said that Ankara was even prepared to build a mosque at the site mentioned by the Genoese explorer.
‘I would like to talk about it to my Cuban brothers. A mosque would go perfectly on the hill’, he said. History books say that Columbus set foot on the American continent in 1492 as he was seeking a new maritime route to India. A tiny minority of Muslim scholars have recently suggested a prior Muslim presence there, although no pre-Columbian ruin of an Islamic structure has ever been found.
Erdogan said that Ankara was even prepared to build a mosque at the site mentioned by the Genoese explorer.
‘I would like to talk about it to my Cuban brothers. A mosque would go perfectly on the hill’, he said. History books say that Columbus set foot on the American continent in 1492 as he was seeking a new maritime route to India. A tiny minority of Muslim scholars have recently suggested a prior Muslim presence there, although no pre-Columbian ruin of an Islamic structure has ever been found.
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