Christopher Columbus Discovered America Essay

It is common to hear that Christopher Columbus "discovered" America. Yet many history textbooks no longer describe Columbus's exploration in this way. Why do you think that is the case? What might be a better way to describe what occurred in 1492?

Let’s get this straight. Christopher Columbus was never the first person to discover the Americas. Against popular belief, he was not the first European explorer to find this continent. This credit supposedly goes to the Norse Vikings, originally from Scandinavia, who explored but did not inhabit the land. Along with that, Columbus never actually “discovered” North America, but Central and South America, along with islands in the Caribbean. This discovery helped inspire the Age of Exploration. In the end, however, it’s true that the Native Americans were the first to inhabit the land, which explains why they are known as Native Americans.

Unlike the Native Americans and the Vikings, Columbus had publicity. People believed that he was the first person to discover the Americas, even though Columbus refused to believe that he found anything other than India. Since word spreads like wildfire; this idea became known to many others. Nowadays, we interpret this event differently, which lead to the changes in several textbooks. I believe that Christopher Columbus was the first European to inspire new exploration in the Americas. Calling Christopher Columbus the first explorer to discover the Americas under the Spanish crown might be more reasonable in this