Re: America

I quote from "The Hiram Key" by Christopher Knight and Robert Lomas, c1996:
p76. - The Mandaeans, however, believe that the inhabitants of this far land are so pure that mortal eyes will not see them and that this place is marked by a star, the name of which is 'Merica.'
p288. - They pointed their bows exactly due west and set sail on what is now the 42nd parallel in search of the land marked by the star they knew from the Nasorean scrolls was called Merica, which these French knights referred to as 'la Merica' a name that later became simply America.They almost certainly landed in the Cape Cod or Rhode Island area of New England in the early weeks of 1308, setting foot on the New World nearly a century and a half before Christopher Columbus was even born.

I would add that I believe the Phoenicians had sailed to America 4000 years ago.There is little reason to believe they did not.