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Turkey President Claims Muslims Discovered America

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“Muslims discovered the Americas, not Columbus — or at least that’s what the president of Turkey wants people to believe,” the New York Post reports.

Said President Recep Tayyip Erdogan: “Muslims discovered America in 1178, not Christopher Columbus. Contacts between Latin America and Islam date back to the 12th century. Columbus mentioned the existence of a mosque on a hill on the Cuban coast.”

“The Spanish-employed sailor did speak of a mosque in his personal diary, which was published in 1996, but the notion has been widely considered to be a misunderstanding and should instead be viewed as a metaphor for the shape of the landscape. The fact that no Islamic structures have been unearthed that pre-date Columbus also debunks Erdogan’s claims.”

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goddard-bw-snapshotTaegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.

Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.

Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.

Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.

Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC.

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