Did Columbus Really Discover America?

Columbus discovered America, found some hacksilver there and used a piece of a derelict Chinese boat to repair the Santa Maria. Then he cooked and ate an Indian, with the Native Americans. Happy Washington's birthday!

No, it wasn't lost.

Well,first of all,it already had a population.There is very strong evidence that the Vikings were here,and some intriguing theories about many other sea faring cultures having been here way back.Even when the "indians" supposedly crossed the Bering Strait,there were already "mound builders" here.Columbus was lost.He thought he was in India or something.He shrewdly and coldly reported back to the Queen that this place was ripe for the pickins.Not a Hero in my mind.

Did the native peoples of the Bahamas discover Europeans who were lost at sea in 1492.

Yeah, sort of like I discovered beer.The Norse were here over four centuries earlier, there is evidence of Asian landings on the west coast carbon dated to the 11th century and the millions of native inhabitants had been here a good 8,000 years before that.

Columbus discovered San Salvador. Amerigo Vespucci discovered America.

To begin with, it's well established at this point that Norse adventurers reached the shores of North America 400 years before Columbus was born.  Secondly, Columbus didn't discover anything.  He was lost while searching for something that did not exist.  At the time he stumbled upon the shores of the New World, there were probably around 5 million native peoples living in the Americas.  They didn't need to be discovered.  They knew where they were.  Namely, at home.  I think back on all the BS we were handed as children about Columbus being this great, noble explorer, when the truth of the matter was that he was an avaricious seeker of riches first, and a second-rate navigator second.  Ho-hum, Chris.

Columbus embarked to prove the world that the planet was round, claiming that by sailing westward, he would find India. The "discovery" of America was accidental, even to the point that Columbus died thinking that he went to India. He even called the natives Indians.

He did discover it for his people...kinda like getting a phone call from a friend telling you that they just discovered a great new restaurant. Tell it to the Indigenous People. His people did forge a tad deeper into the New World than the Norse.A point of correction on a statement made by a previous post. Some of your information is inaccurate, Rovin'. Columbus knew damn well that he wasn't in Indian. The origin of the use of the name "Indian" is derived from the fact that between the mid 1800's and the early 20th century, over one half of a million Indians (from India) were brought to the Caribbean as indentured servants. They had a huge impact on island cultures and were honored, thusly.In Jamaica, for instance, they still celebrate the arrival of the Indians every year, as they do in other islands such as  Guadeloupe and Martinique. These Indians impacted everything in the islands from agriculture to education to politics.Additionally:  Less that than 50 years before Columbus set s... Read more

Well yeah he did discover it, but he wasn't the first to. (History recap time) The first group to discover America were the Onion People from the planet Osmosiscide who landed in what is now known as Massachusetts. Luckily the Native Americans banded together several local tribes and created the world's first nuclear bomb. A young Native American called Sleepy Foot took the Nuclear Bomb in on a daring suicide mission and set it off destroying the Onion People fleet and saving the world forever. Furthermore that was how Pickled Onions were invented. That all happened in the year 2112 BC. Later some Vikings went there and ate some soup.

He definitely discovered it, but he was not the first to discover it.

People(s) from various other cultures probably came to this Continent before Columbus. That fact, however, is of little relevance other than as a historical footnote, considering that it would not be until this Spanish expedition that real cultural, political, linguistic and economic transformations would take place, so much so that the impact is forever the result of Columbus' journey, thus, the one significant 'discovery.'

The landing of Columbus set in motion the process that led to the greatest nation in human history, the United States of America. But, if you want to get technical here, the Vikings were the first non-American indians on the continent.

It isn't an unanswered question. Columbus was the LAST person to discover America. What was historical was Europe's reaction to his voyage. But this public-school myth isn't much of a mystery anymore. . .

he is a fruity kabooty, mwhahahahaha!!! and he raped the native women,that bad boy. he should be panked

He may have found America, but he didn't find it in the sence of being the first person to discover it, there where people who found America and settled there long before Columbus landed.

The first to discover it? No. The first to discover it and cause colonialism? Yes. He is credited for discovering it for Europe- which was were civilization was mainly happening. If not for Columbus, America would not have been colonized until someone else stumbled upon the land. He deserves the credit he gets. Everyone knows he wasn't the first to discover it. But he was the first to cause colonial expansion.

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Actually, the Vikings were here before Columbus. Evidence of ancient Viking settlements have been unearthed in Labrador and Newfoundland dating to the 1000's. Apparently they didn't stick around too long, probably it was a lonely outpost that they settled temporarily. The area was and still is known as a major fishing ground.

Actually he discovered a few islands in the Caribbean near America, before he got back for a second go to see the mainland, he was beaten by a man named Amerigo Vespucci who named the two continents after himself hence America. Though there is much doubt Amerigo actually reached the mainland before anyone else. Anyway the whole discovered thing is debatable since there were already people there, all they would've needed to do would be to look at the ground to discover America.

Nope. That would be Elvis. ..Atleast in the metaphorical sense.

Of course he did, If you ignore the fact that there were people living there already. If I got lost and ran my car into the White House I would not claim to have discovered the White House. Why does he have a National Holiday named after him?

No he did not. Leif Erikson did, only he called it Vineland.

No he did not. How can he discover something that already exisisted! The native americans were here long before him, and the Vikings came before this twit.

Well, being as he met natives, it's kind of an indication that someone else was here first.

He opened up the western hemishere to exploration by Europeans on a grand scale but.. no, he didn't discover it.

He was captain on the first boat of Europeans to reach certain islands in the Caribbean--otherwise no. There were a hundred million or so people already there. Whether or not other Europeans (besides the Vikings) were there earlier is still an open question--there is some interesting, but contentious, genetic evidence that suggests it may have occurred.