Claims that recent research has pushed back the date Bermuda was discovered have been branded as old news by historians.

At a press conference on Wednesday, Tourism Minister David Allen decided to push back celebrations for Bermuda's 500th anniversary and cited research done by Dr. Edward Harris and Dr. Clarence Maxwell who said the Island was first discovered in 1505 or later, not the previously held date of 1503.

But Joyce Hall said this had been common knowledge since the 1990s when historian Jonathan Bream researched archives in Spain.

She said: “There's nothing new in this.”

And the date of 1505 or 1506 was mentioned in William Zuill's ‘The Story of Bermuda and its People', last published in 1999.

“Dr. Harris has known this all along,” said Mr. Zuill.

Dr. Harris said his research was adding corroboration to Mr. Bream's findings and claimed the common assumption was that 1503 was the first date Spanish navigator Juan de Bermudez's ship La Garza was believed to have landed here.