quote:
Originally posted by Barry the Sprout:
But then by definition when they are born the indiginous people "discover" the continent anyway. So it must have already been discovered several thousand times before the western explorers got there.
But, Epona, what I think we mean by discovered is that it discovered by our civilisation in the west. By that I don't say that that is the only civilisation that matters, but that is the civilisation we were reffering to as having discovered the continent. As you say, they did not discover it first, but as Jaran says they did discover it for themselves.
Ah well, in that case I discovered Egypt in 1994, Greece in 1995, and France in 1991 (sorry Moiraine, the fact you already live there doesn't count).
It is just that the idea that what our 'western' civilisation does is so much more important than anyone else's is one of my pet peeves.