Ian Hudson: Who Discovered America? Rethinking the History of Global Exploration

You’ve heard the rhyme: “In fourteen hundred and ninety-two, Columbus sailed the ocean blue.” But what if global exploration began centuries, even millennia, earlier?

Ian Hudson, Founder of the Gavin Menzies Research Foundation and co-author of Who Discovered America, invites you to explore evidence that challenges one of history’s most familiar narratives. From ancient maps and Ming-dynasty shipwrecks to enigmatic stone anchors off California and archaeological discoveries around the world, Hudson follows clues suggesting that civilisations were crossing the oceans long before the traditional Age of Exploration.

But this is not about simply replacing one historical narrative with another. It is about examining the evidence, asking questions and seeing where it leads. Could Admiral Zheng He’s great treasure fleets have been just one chapter in a much longer story of global exploration?

Expect evidence, controversy and a fresh perspective on who really discovered America — and how connected the ancient world may have been.