Reading interesting notes of history leads further

I really enjoy reading history.  Sometimes just small notes here and there. Those notes can be notes and links in a longer text.

For example I read the Turkish president Erdogan claim Muslims discovered the Americas before Columbus. Historians comment and say Erdogan miss understand the historic notes of eyewitnesses and that historians haven’t found any evidence of remains Erdogan claims.

In Sweden Olof Rudebeck, the man who founded the botanic garden that after being burned down and later became the famous Linné botanic garden in Uppsala, Sweden, also claimed Sweden to be the place for Atlantis. He claimed that during the 1600’s when Sweden was a mayor power.

Coincidentally Uppsala (& Gamla Uppsala ) is also the home of huge viking settlements in form of viking graves. Not far from Stockholm.  And the old place called Birka. The island at which many Vikings left and returned to and from on their voyages around Europe.  Even down to today’s turkey and Greece.

What Erdogan forgets though, or simply disregard is that Vikings discovered americas before the time Erdogan claims Muslims discovered it. Ghadaffi after all claimed Shakespear to be muslim. And took the name as ”proof”: Shake-spear. Or maybe the horribly brutal dictator was just joking. But you never really know do you, when people in absolute power start to see their power as a god given right.

Now Erdogan have got himself a huge palace built.  Something that have been a scandal in Turkey.  Of course turkey is the former Ottoman empire. And leaders who see themselves as great, often start to claim things.  Right or wrong.

As I read about the viking Leif Eriksson who discovered the Americas and other Vikings after him, a German man, Adam of Bremen, wrote about Vinland (New Foundland, Canada) earlier than the year 1000. The other vikings after him, most probably met either eskimos or native american ”indians”, which the viking tales call ”Skrälingar”.  I personally wouldn’t be surpriced if Leif Erikson the viking and all other after him, whent even more south than the tales tell. After all why stop at New Foundland when the shores show more is down south, by the ever long-shore of the americas. After all that´s what the Swedish vikings did. They Brika and many other places and crossed sease, rivers and countries, and whent way south and had contact far far beyond their own home. There has been a finding of a buddist statue in the swedish ground, achelogical sites.

You can find many interesting notes and links for further reading by checking the text about Leif Eriksson. Link here: http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leif_Erikson

Enjoy the read and discoveries

Stefan Lindblad
Illustrator, artist, graphic designer