What would have happened, if America hadn’t been discovered by Columbus? This question might have been repeatedly asked by historians (or philosophers) countless times. I’m not a historian myself, but I too ask myself that question at least three times per week. Therefor I think this is a very interesting topic to write about.

Before I start, I just want to tell you that this is my OWN opinion.

Firstly, I believe that America would have been discovered by somebody else, if not by Columbus. With all the technology and satellites, it would have been nearly impossible to miss such a huge land mass.

But if not, a lot of things would be different today. Let’s start with the political power of European countries. Spain for example, was for a long time high up in the global ranking of power, because it had a lot of colonies in America. They also had a lot of gold, which they stole from the Inca Empire (located in South America). But if it hadn’t been for Columbus: no colonies, no gold. I believe, that pupils would not learn a lot about Spain in History classes, because Spain wouldn’t have been involved in many struggles OR they probably would have failed in warfare quite early

Not only Spain, but people all across Europe would not be so rich (normal people). Trading regions like India could be rich, because they would dominate the world trade.

Some revolutions and civil wars might not have taken place, because many of these volatile powder barrels were encouraged by the American revolution.

Had America never been discovered, goods like potatoes, tobacco or coffee would never have reached, and influenced Europe. We would not have French fries, or potato chips.

But still humans would live there, because they went to America long before Columbus lived. These are the so called indigenous societies. There were two big tribes in America, when Columbus arrived: The Aztec whose empire was located in Mexico, and the Incas (I already mentioned them). Their empire is located in the Andes. In my opinion it is interesting to think about these empires, in a society like today. Do you believe that they would today be as educated as we are right now? In what time would we live today if America never was discovered (education-/ invention-wise)?