Mapping History Anew; Analyst Says Portugal Discovered the Pacific.(NATION)(CULTURE, ET CETERA)

Byline: Josh Earl, THE WASHINGTON TIMES

When Christopher Columbus discovered the Americas in 1492, empire-building European countries rushed to explore the New World and lay claim to its land and resources.

It was this climate of cutthroat competition, says ex-CIA analyst Peter Dickson, that led the Portuguese to launch an expedition that sailed around South America and into the Pacific Ocean - and then try to cover up the discovery.

Most historians believe that in 1513, Spaniard Vasco de Balboa was the first European to see the Pacific Ocean. But Mr. Dickson, a retired CIA analyst living in Arlington who holds master's degrees in government, philosophy and history, is trying to change all that.

He has concluded that the Portuguese secretly sailed around the tip of South America at least a decade before Balboa's famed trek across the Isthmus of Panama. Mr. Dickson will share his research today at 2 p.m. at a Library of Congress lecture. The full text of his findings will appear in the magazine …

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Publication information: Article title: Mapping History Anew; Analyst Says Portugal Discovered the Pacific.(NATION)(CULTURE, ET CETERA). Contributors: Not available. Newspaper title: The Washington Times (Washington, DC). Publication date: October 10, 2002. Page number: A02. © 2009 The Washington Times LLC. COPYRIGHT 2002 Gale Group.

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