Why does Christopher Columbus get credit for discovering America when someone was already on the land?
442993
Christopher Columbus was the first to make the new land known to the rest of the world.  At that time, Europe was the area of the world where all information spread from. Also, Europe was in the Age of Exploration. The countries or should I say empires were looking for new routes to Asia to avoid import taxes which were common in ports on the Mediterranean Sea. This was the usual route most traders took in reaching Asia.  Christopher Columbus believed he had reached Asia until the time he died. Later explorers were the ones who realized he had landed in a new world. The Vikings were in North America much earlier, but their main concern was food, and the only record we have of their being in North America was found in the Sagas they wrote.
974733
There's still disagreement about just where Columbus first saw the new world and set foot upon its shores.  No one knows for sure.\n\nHere are some sites that may be helpful to you.  Best of luck.
92249
Columbus was challenged by the Spanish government, specifically the Queen, to disprove the commonly accepted  notion that the world was flat.  Conceptually, the formulation of his proof that the world was indeed "round" (spherical, or possible cylindrical - it's not specified in history texts what "round" meant to Columbus) was that if he could set some starting point and then sail around the world in a constant direction, should he return to his starting point then his theory would be proved.\n\nHe ended up in the Indies, which has ever since been named the "West Indies", but thought he was elsewhere.  As far as Columbus was concerned, he was sure that he had found some one of the outermost islands of Cipango or Japan. So he dropped his anchors, ordered out his rowboat, and prepared to take possession of the land in the name of the queen of Spain, who had helped him in his enterprise.\n\nOf course, he wasn't in Japan or Cipango...if you want a full text detail of the story, follow the link in references...this was the short version.\n\nI hope this helps you!!
23030
Well he sure is recognised now.  \nBut he didnt get much recognition back then because he never actually completed the voyage around the planet.  He was killed by natives when they stopped in the Philippines Islands and never returned to Spain.  Eighteen of his approximate 250 crew members and one of the 5 ships in his fleet did return to Spain in 1522, and were the first to circumnavigated the globe.
1181095
Green Bay Packers win first super bowl under coach Lombardi. Plus Pere Marquette ventured through Wisconsin as a missionary to enlighten the Indians about Christianity. Columbus is credited with discovering America, yet Marquette is credited with discovering America's heartland. As far as robbery, John Dillenger the 1930s gangster might have been there, since he grew up in Indiana.
465349
person who named America
851150
God, Gold and Glory sum up the Age of Discovery which begins in the 15th!!!! Century  (seriously.  Remember Christopher Columbus? The guy that set out for Asia but actually only made it to the West Indies? During the 15th Century?)\n\nGod - to spread Christianity to what they believed were 'pagan' nations of Muslims, \nGold - they wanted money from silk and spice trades and \nGlory - they wanted to become famous.
156792
Columbus never came to the area now known as the US. He was in the Caribbean. The Caribbean was inhabited by the Carib Indians and the Arawak Indians, and other indigenous peoples. \n\nThroughout the New World there were indigenous peoples already living here before Columbus. Some of the people living in the Americas have ancestors who were among these aboriginal peoples, but most do not.
968749
Consider the fact that Indians lived and fought all over the country before Americans landed and many died and were buried or creamated. Also pioneers buried their dead anywhere they died. We cannot be sure that nobody died there.
624121
Consider the date.  Columbus is attributed as the discoverer of America.  It was not determined to be America until after his death well after 1500.  I doubt there are too many maps in the time period you are requesting.  The second link below is a picture of a mid 1500's map from Spain.\n\nAn exception, however, is the Vinland map thought to have been made about 1440...thought to be the first of North America rendered by explorer Eiriksson.
81476
technically Amerigo vespucci (more than likely spelled wrong) was here before columbus. if one wants to be exact...native americans were already here. = )
83349
columbus sailed west to the indies instead of going around africa because he thought it would be faster. most people those days believed the world was flat, but columbus thought the world was round. he went west, but ended up in north america, but he didn't know that. he called the people he saw there indians because he believed he was in the indies.
341666
Recently, there was a part of the island of New Guinea that was "discovered" by western scientists. However, there were natives who lived there, so somebody had been there. Other than that, the only places where no one has been to are places in the ocean and perhaps (if no tribal group has) other rain forests such as those in the Amazon River Basin.
73839
I think the messy business of the European colonization of the American Continents is pretty much common knowledge.  Who, exactly, are you trying to incite then?  Is it the millions of North & South Americans who now lead comfortable, modern lives, or the two or three other people -- like yourself -- stuck in 1492?  Besides, people are solid believers in something that was made 'by man', but they are also free to choose not to believe, or to not be 'solid' believers.  Let it go, no one appriciates the people like you who have mistaken this service as a soapbox (though your ranting does help make the rest of us feel better about ourselves, so thanks for that public service) ;)
163551
Well I love the chance to answer a history question, expecially one about Columbus who in 1492 sailed the ocean blue.  \n\nHe acutally went on his voyage from the direction of Queen Isabella of Spain who wanted to have the first chance to get a Walmart franchise in her country., but alas when Columbus arrived here he found out the Walmart did not franchise, so he talked Isabella into a K-mark which is now bankrupt.\n\nShe also wanted him to bring back the recipe for turkey burgers and fishsticks for she wanted to open fast food resturants in Spain.\n\nNow what did he get:\n\nA holiday named after him\n\nA city in Ohio named after him\n\nHerpes\n\nThe love and devotion of millions of italians (why I don't know)\n\nA song about his voyages\n\nWhoops, I goofed up I am not sure that I gave four reasons, I may have given less or maybe more, but considering the fact that they are not really true who gives a sh...t....\n\nHave a nice day, keep smiling and have a sense of humor...
912408
well... technically the vikings did... a guy named lief ericson then came amerigo vespucci and lastly and the one that got the credit: Christopher Columbus
538268
Think of it this way: America was named after an Italian: Amerigo Vespucci. Had Columbus been able to secure financing for his dreams from one of the Italian duchies, Latin America would now be speaking Italian. Marco Polo introduced the chinese noodle and transformed it into spaghetti. He also introduced gunpowder to the West. Giovanni Caboto (John Cabot) explored parts of Eastern Canada for King Henry of England. Archimedes was a Sicilian who almost drowned after slapping himself on the forehead upon discovering the phenomenom of buoyancy.\nVolta, Marconi, Davinci, Michelangelo, Dante etc. etc. took civilization out of the Middle Ages and into the Renaissance. Need I say more?\nI think they're all exceptionally wunnerfulwops!