To judge the reliability of such accounts, the best method is to compare one report with other available sources and form an opinion about whether it rings true. This approach allows us to test the different theories claiming that certain travelers reached the Americas before Columbus. Some are utterly credible and have received widespread scholarly support; others, utterly unfounded, have triggered profound skepticism. While, for example, the evidence for the Viking voyages to Newfoundland is ironclad, the case for the Chinese beating Columbus to the Americas is speculative.
