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Africa was relatively densely populated compared to North and South America. When Europeans landed in the Americas, they were sparsely populated, and the Indians often died from diseases brought by Europeans. The few that didn't were easily conquered by the Europeans, whom "advanced" cultures such as the Aztecs and Incas mistook for gods. The Africans had ...

As to how they made it safely, don't be fooled by the fact that they only had 'canoes'; double-hulled ships are far more seaworthy than single hulls of a similar size. That's not to say it wasn't risky or difficult, but modern people have successfully followed the paths of early Polynesian migrations using traditionally designed boats and (more ...

In fact during the Age of Discovery, Africa had been the principle objective. It really begins with Prince Henry the Navigator, a son of the King of Portugal who had an intense fascination with Africa. In particular he was taken with the legend of Prester John, said to be a descendant of one of the Three Magi who presided over a magical land with marvels ...

This quote came from the first paragraph of this page, which is in Russian. This is an approximate translation. By September 2007 the North Pole had been visited 66 times by different surface ships: 54 times by Soviet and Russian icebreakers, 4 times by Swedish Oden, 3 times by German RV Polarstern, 3 times by USCGC Healy and USCGC Polar Sea, and once by ...

Polynesians discovered and colonized pretty much the entire Pacific this way. Easter Island is one of their more impressive discoveries, but it isn't even the most impressive. That title has to go to Madagascar, which was settled from Borneo (about 5,000 miles away!). How did they do this? Well, the Polynesians were the ancient world's best navigators, and ...

Malaria I'd actually leave it at that, if the posting software let me. But to elaborate, Europeans actually did actively try to colonize Africa continuously during the Age of Discovery. The problem is Malaria killed them off quicker than more could be sent. The only place it really worked was in South Africa, which was too temparate for Malaria to be a ...

The New World was much easier. European diseases spread rapidly, wiping out the local population, and 'clearing the land'. In Africa, the locals had the same immunity to the likes of smallpox as the Europeans, so it wasn't 'cleared' as quickly. It also has diseases of it's own (e.g. malaria) that would hinder someone coming in.

I think this is a valid question. But the answer is a rather resounding no. For one thing, we have no shred of evidence for such a conjecture. For another, this conjecture cannot be squared at all with the fact that Columbus to his dying day insisted on having actually landed in India - had he been dissimulating about his knowledge of the existence of ...

The Magnetic North Pole actually moves around rather a lot. Generally over the last 150 years or so it has been in Canadian territory, but often it is on dry (well...frozen) land. It isn't exactly on your typical tourist trade routes, but it generally isn't nearly as difficult to reach as the Geographic North Pole. Inuit have traditionally lived on those ...

According to this page, Rapa Nui's latitude is -28, almost -30. That is a border between zones of prevailing eastern winds (to the North from -30) and prevailing western winds (to the South), according to the map. Another point is that the navigation of the Polinesians was a right-angle one. They sailed first along the meridian (by polar star or Southern ...