Another important question is who brought the Galicians from Europe to Brazil which they eventually end up settling in Kuelap and Chachapoyas in Peru around 2,000 years ago? The Galicians may have brought themselves to the New World since they are geographically situated next to the Atlantic Ocean. Galicians had ships that hugged the seashores, but did they have ships that could travel long distance across unknown open seas? Perhaps they did, but what ocean vessel did they use? Was it their own ships or ships from their neighboring regions in Iberia or ships sent by the Romans? Some historians suggest that the Carthaginians brought them there while fleeing from the Roman invasion. The problem is that Galicia is located in the northwestern area of the Iberian region which was never invaded by the Carthaginians. Historically, Galicia was absorbed into the Roman Empire. Perhaps, Romans brought them to the New World which does suggest to me that much of history was lost to time.
Paracas people were another European or Near eastern group that arrived in Peru around the same time as some people suggest. Could the Paracas and Galicians have known each other before they departed from the Old World to Peru? Arriving in a similar location and around a similar time period is questionable? Was this coincidence or by design? Maybe they traveled together from Europe to Peru.
Galicians and possibly the Romans that were on the ships numbered in the hundreds when they finally arrived in the Americas. The indeterminate amount of people was probably enough to maintain their population in the long run as indicated by the 50/500 rule. The Caucasian people in Kuelap and Chachapoyas in Peru were first documented during the Spanish colonial times in the 16th century, and some more were chronicled in the subsequent centuries. Today, majority of them have already inbreeded with the local native population.
Why would a large population travel to such great lengths 2,000 years ago? Europeans at the time didn't even know much of their own Old World such as Asia or Africa. For them to travel beyond those continents would be considered far-fetch at the time, but somehow it did really happen. Galicians in Peru is an anomaly in the world of history.
The explanations as to why they fled to New World is unrealistic. I have a hard time believing that the Carthaginians and Galicians fled from the Roman invasions to find refuge in a completely unknown continent. They could have just fled to nearby continents such as Asia or Africa. There has to be a realistic explanation as to why this epic voyage occurred. For example, clearly the video showed that some of the structures in Kuelap and Chachapoyas in Peru resembled structures in Galicia. This does suggest that the Galicians were more than just intrepid seafarers, they were also engineers and architects. But that does not explain why they went to a whole new continent. Maybe there was another astounding explanation. Was this an attempt by the Galicians and possibly the Romans to discover another trade route but only to find out that they discovered a whole new continent much like what happened a millennium and a half later in 1492.
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If Galicians and possibly Romans did arrive in the Americas 2,000 years ago, then we could also see some contributions and consequences of their arrival.
The exchange of ideas and products are referred to as the Columbian Exchange. Unlike the European colonization of the Americas from 1492 and onward where exchanges of ideas and commodity goods went both ways from Europe to America and vice versa, the contribution by the Galicians and possibly Romans 2,000 years ago in South America only went one way and with one voyage only. One example of contribution was the slingshots that was shown in the video that are not found in ancient Americas. This particular type of slingshot was only utilized by the Balearic slingers on the Balearic Islands, and they were later hired as Roman Auxiliary Soldiers. Another example in the video was their building constructs. The narrator suggested that some of the structures found in Kuelap and Chachapoyas are similar to structures found only in Galicia and they were clearly different from any of the constructs found in Peru. The video doesn't mention what animal and plant species that were introduce to the Americas by them. Since there was likely only one wave of migration, then we shouldn't expect much or any unless they didn't survive or hasn't been found yet. The video doesn't mention any tragedy such as European diseases wiping out an entire village nor any conflicts however the people did use slingshots and constructed fortresses which may suggest possible skirmishes. The arrival population to Brazil and Peru 2,000 years ago probably only numbered in the hundreds when compared to the well-known European migration of 1492 and onward.
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I am unaware of how many genetic samples they took but I am surprised that only Galician DNA showed up on the DNA Analysis. It may suggest that the majority of the people that arrived were of Galician descent. However, it's more common to see a variety of ethnic groups on board the ships considering that a Roman Empire was employing locals and foreigners to accomplish their missions. We see this pattern continuing into the Age of Exploration as clearly seen on the voyages of Magellan and Columbus.
They actually have not found the original ships and therefore the whereabouts and the conditions of the ships are unknown upon arrival on shore. The likely scenario is that they were shipwrecked. If not, they chose not to return back to Europe which allowed the local natives to dismantle the ships parts and recycled them for their own use. If one ship did attempt to return, then it may have either sank or shipwrecked elsewhere or successfully returned back to Europe but left no records. At the time they probably did not quite thoroughly understand how the trade winds blow over the Atlantic Ocean.
