Michael V said:

The Rev Dodgson said:

captain_spalding said:

Also, you never know who else the people you encounter might have met, and what they might have learnt from them.

I know of a British chap who became lost in North Africa (vehicle breakdown, or similar).

He was on his last legs when he met an old Arab man, on a donkey or camel, can’t remember which.

The British bloke knew no Arabic, the Arab knew no English.

But, they both knew enough French to be able to communicate.

OK, but I’m pretty sure that nobody native to N America in 1492 could speak French.

Or even Latin.

They didn’t think that they were going to North America. They thought they were going to China. Others had already been there overland and communicated OK.

As far as the history they wrote, North America wasn’t there.
Though the blokes on Oak Island think they can prove otherwise.