The sensational book by famous authors Andrei Zhukov and Nikolai Nepomniachtchi contains archaeological and historical data new to the Russian reader, which indicate that long before the era of great geographical discoveries, the closest contacts existed between the Old and New Worlds. European, Asian and African navigators - from Egyptians and Carthaginians to early Christians and Vikings - discovered the American continent 1.5-2 thousand years earlier than Columbus and created their colonies on its shores.