Who discovered the New World in 1492?
Of course, you know the history of your country as well as you know the name of the first person to reach the continent. Nevertheless, his objective was not to discover new "worlds" because he was going to sail west until he reaches Asia: the area was said to provide the travelers with gold, pearls and spices. Actually, his sudden discovery was even better, don't you think so?
What are your thoughts on this subject?
			
			 171 Comments
	
Alice Mbuthia					
					
How about the Indians already here? Oh I forgot, were they humans? You know white folks decide who's human and who's not. Damn lying Europeans didn't discover sh*t! How do u discover a place when someone already live there?					
					
				
Freddie Garcia II					
					
If you look at Christopher Columbus's travels he never set foot in the United States America. Do your homework people. The Vikings were here way before Columbus was even born and the indians were here way before them. So Christopher Columbus is the biggest fraud history has ever known.					
					
				
							Edgar Vazquez 
					
					
Nobody did,there was human beings here already,call them what you may,indigenous, native americans,Asians, it don't matter,no one discovered anything					
					
				
Brenda Johnson					
					
Amerigo Vespuci, but Chris got the credit.					
					
				
							Edgar Vazquez 
					
					
No,totally disagree,he didn't  discover anything,the Indians already lived,what they discovered  (the indians) is how fast they raped their lands from riches and their women as well					
					
				
Gary Smith					
					
Nothing has ever been discovered in the world. It has always been here. You people are idiots. This is just a FUN site to make you think					
					
				
James Mohn					
					
Oh hell, Edison didn't discover electricity either.  I know what your saying, but can we just quit re-writting history at every corner.					
					
				
							John Middleton
					
					
Nice to hear such lady like comments					
					
				
Rob Blomquist					
					
Well I think it's been proven that Leif Erikson got to North America - Nova Scotia - about 400 years before Columbus. I am definitely sure the Islanders that Columbus enslaved or killed or infected with deadly Old World Diseases were not to happy with arrival. I don't think they would agree with your cheery perspective on "Discovery."					
					
				
Garland English					
					
Columbus paved the way for more people to immigrate to this continent and had a far more historical impact on the world.Out of this came the United States of America,the greatest country the world had ever seen.If you don'tlike it migrate somewhere else					
					
				 
				
							Kevin Somerville Weir
					
					
I can't believe that such a racist question is even allowed on this website! By the way, Beth, I do know the history of my country, and I'm proud to say that my country is not the USA. You should hang your heads in shame for the genocide that your ancestors perpetrated in North America.					
					
				 
				
							Janice Fish
					
					
Good question					
					
				 
				
							Randy Fisher
					
					
We learned this in grade school. " In 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue".... Some think the Vikings were here decades before Columbus					
					
				 
				
							Mimi Bach
					
					
Too easy					
					
				 
				
							Shirley Chaplin
					
					
I think the Vikings discovered it first, but did,not land					
					
				 
				
							Billie Sue Patrick
					
					
Really lame question and even worse answer. As others have pointed out, he wasn't even the first European, and he never set foot on the American continent. However, some of the most indignant comments include a great deal of misinformation and inaccuracy also. Just goes to show, you don't have to actually know anything to have an opinion about it.					
					
				 
				
							Genevieve Antoinette
					
					
Gary Smith, BLAM! I love it.					
					
				 
				
							Genevieve Antoinette
					
					
Alice Mbuthia, Thank you! You've written exactly what I'm thinking. The? should be "What European sailed to America in 1492?" if at all.					
					
				
							Jacqueline Fisher Rolen
					
					
I still don't understand why it was a discovery when there were people already there. Native Indians get everything taken...					
					
				 
				
							Charles Peber
					
					
How about the Vikings who were here long before Colombus?					
					
				 
				
							Keely Anne Williams
					
					
What about the Vikings! Or even the Welsh long before Columbus, maybe even the Phoenicians may have reached there! By the way Ralph Waldo Emerson in English Traits(1856) writes that it is.   "Strange that broad America was to wear the name of a thief! Amerigo Vespucci, the pickle-dealer at Seville, who went out in 1499, a subaltern with Hojeda, and whose highest rank  was boatswain's mate, in an expedition that never sailed, managed in this lying world to supplant  Columbus and baptize half the earth with his name!"					
					
				 
				
							Johnny Rock
					
					
This subject is very much up for debate.  Leif Ericson was the first European to  arrive some 500 years before Columbus ever was born.					
					
				 
				
							Lori Wiser-Dyas
					
					
Really? A question from elementary school classes and the answer ignored Vespuci, not to mention the Indians already residing and thriving in this continent.					
					
				 
				
							Barbara Glasper
					
					
Alice Mbuthia, so very true					
					
				 
				
							Janice Marler
					
					
Brenda Johnson,  In 1492?