Columbus didn't "Discover" anything. Seriously. The NA Continent was already discovered.

[dballance]

2. I Think It's Insulting to the Indigenous Peoples to say "Discovered" the way it's said now.

One could certainly argue that Columbus discovered the existence of the Caribbean and the N. American continent in the sense they were unknown to the Europeans. I'll grant that.

Unfortunately, the context with which "discovered" is used with Columbus is as if he discovered this vast area that had never been seen before - except there were natives. That it was this miraculous divine discovery. As usual, at the time, he decided Europeans were superior to the natives and set about enslaving them and wiping out their language, religion and culture. So it seems more like he discovered a vein of gold or other resource for the taking and took it. It was nothing more than a profit center for him. Not the vast "New World" that should have been respected and its peoples respected.