Erdogan: Muslims discovered America in 1178

[kcguy]

It's generally accepted that the Vikings visited America.  If they were able to cross the Atlantic, it seems reasonable to assume others were able to, as well.  I haven't heard any arguments why the Vikings would have been unique.

Is it possible Muslims visited America in 1178?  Yeah, why not.

Is it possible that Muslims were able to maintain an influence in the Americas for three centuries, without contemporary Europe being aware of America even existing?  Is it possible that the caliphates were able to devote the necessary expenditures for three centuries, without records of this being found in any archives in the centuries since?  That sounds more like a pile of cow manure, to put it politely.

Does it actually matter?  Not in the least.  I'm sitting here in Kansas because of a series of events that dated back to Columbus's visits to the Caribbean.  Any previous trans-Atlantic trips are historical dead ends.  (It's like finding proof that the ancient Egyptians invented television receivers, but abandoned them because Howdy Doody episodes hadn't begun airing yet.  Interesting, but irrelevant to what came later.)