[Cicero]

It's likely that the Chinese and many other people discovered America before Columbus. But then they lost it again. Columbus's discovery was followed up on.

It's also likely that Europeans discovered China much earlier than history usually credits, as earlier posts have suggested.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

It's also likely that Europeans discovered China much earlier than history usually credits, as earlier posts have suggested.

Europeans were always aware of the existence of China in historical times. The Romans defeated the Persians in the first century BC. But rather than make them into a colony they prefered to allow them independence so that they could act as buffer between their empire and China.