pre-Columbian

See also: Precolumbian

English

From pre- +‎ Columbian.

pre-Columbian (not comparable)

(historical) Before the voyages of Christopher Columbus of the 1490s which introduced greatly widened contacts between Eurasia and the Americas.
since pre-Columbian times

unknown in Europe in pre-Columbian times
Referring to the cultures of the Americas before the European influence, specifically to the era before the continent was visited by Christopher Columbus.
Coordinate terms: precontact, precolonial, pre-Hispanic, pre-European

pre-Columbian cultures

pre-Columbian civilizations
- 1961, Margaret A. Towle, The Ethnobotany of Pre-Columbian Peru, Transaction Publishers, →ISBN, page 2:
  In fact, the dating of pre-Columbian Andean cultures was largely a matter of guesswork.
- 2010, Marylou Kjelle, In Pre-Columbian America, Mitchell Lane Publishers, Inc., →ISBN, page 41:
  Boys trained to be warriors, but why did pre-Columbian peoples battle one another?

before Christopher Columbus