Not to argue with your arguments but it wouldn't had been so easy to sail from Dakar to Lisboa due to prevailing winds. Sailing to America would be much easier.
Fair enough, I'm not a maritime buff. Here's a bit more info to confirm your point [0]. I was thinking more of intermediate stops, specifically Canary islands and Morocco coast, which could have made the voyage easier, and allow the gradual development of navigational prowess in the first place.
Speaking of intermediate stops, you'd expect a fleet of 2000 ships sailing to Americas to be borne out of a maritime culture with a significant footprint. You'd expect said culture to leave some archeological traces in the Cape Verde islands, which are only 400 miles straight to the west of Dakkar. I have never heard of any hard evidence of massive Mali empire / West African fleets traveling to Cape Verde islands on a regular basis. According to Wikipedia:
> Before the arrival of Europeans, the Cape Verde Islands were uninhabited.[12] The islands of the Cape Verde archipelago were discovered by Genoese and Portuguese navigators around 1456.
Sailing west is easy with passat wind. Sailing North to Europe would require sailing far into the ocean in NW direction and turning East when you catch westerlies at 30 deg North. That would require lots of courage or prior navigational knowledge.
It is almost impossible to sail North along the coast of Africa even for ships that can go strong against the wind.
This is what most people misunderstand about Columbus. He did not discover America, he discovered the way to go there and back which required sailing first South looking for passat and returning by sailing North and then catching western winds.
Columbus knew that (from studying reports) before he left on his first voyage, he repeated this four times as all sailors who followed in his steps did for 300 years.
"This is what most people misunderstand about Columbus. He did not discover America, he discovered the way to go there and back which required sailing first South looking for passat and returning by sailing North and then catching western winds."
You seem to take for granted the presence of New World in the mind of Columbus and that the only problem to be solved was securing the access. That is wrong. Columbus was looking for India. He descended to India's latitude and went looking for it westward¹. I'm not aware of any initial plans to return back to Europe on a similar manner, i.e. (this is a mere speculation but I'm inclined to believe that) he could have returned back by some well-known route, to minimize risks if he could find an actual Indian trade post, or anything familiar, really. Given the "unknown part of India" he'd encounter, only later it became a safer bet to attempt sailing back north-eastward.
I hear you. What I meant is that Columbus had enough pieces of a puzzle to make that journey there and back possible. Based on earlier journeys of Portuguese sailors, on reading different accounts both contemporary and historical.
And that after his discovery this circular route became the only way to America and back used by other sailors. This is more of an achievement then placing flag on some piece of land.
Speaking of intermediate stops, you'd expect a fleet of 2000 ships sailing to Americas to be borne out of a maritime culture with a significant footprint. You'd expect said culture to leave some archeological traces in the Cape Verde islands, which are only 400 miles straight to the west of Dakkar. I have never heard of any hard evidence of massive Mali empire / West African fleets traveling to Cape Verde islands on a regular basis. According to Wikipedia:
> Before the arrival of Europeans, the Cape Verde Islands were uninhabited.[12] The islands of the Cape Verde archipelago were discovered by Genoese and Portuguese navigators around 1456.
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prevailing_winds
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cape_Verde#History