Christopher Columbus is generally credited as having discovered the Americas in 1492, however, there are a number of historians who have found other groups to have sailed to and visited the Americas centuries and even millenniums before Columbus.

There were many seafaring civilizations in the ancient world such as the Phoenicians who were known for their maritime travel and their advanced technology. It is said the Phoenicians, as well as other groups, had traveled to the Americas as far back as 3000 BC. The Phoenicians are generally downplayed in history and ignored, possibly because they challenge official history.

It is also worth noting that some people draw connections between many of the ancient megalithic sites in both Europe and the Americas as being possibly constructed by the same groups of people such as the Phoenicians and other seafaring civilizations. These sites were constructed in the Americas thousands of years before Columbus ever set foot. This also ties into the Aztec's belief that the landing of Cortes on their shores was actually the return of the god Quetzalcoatl.