While modern historians believe that many reports from explorers have been lost or were deliberately kept secret by European monarchs, there are other absences as well in the historical record. The heroic stories emphasized the dangers faced and obstacles overcome by the European explorers and conquerors, but they are notable as well for what they leave out. Frequently absent or downplayed in the narratives historians have studied and preserved are references to the contributions of non-Europeans to exploration, technology, European agriculture, and the very survival of many of the exploring expeditions themselves.

The New World was of course not at all "new" in any sense to its original inhabitants. Nor was it necessarily "new" to all outsiders. Some historians have suggested the existence of pre-Columbian journeys of Asian explorers who reached the western coasts of the Americas, for example. Indeed, the Chinese had sent...