Why in the world (no pun) do we honor Columbus at all? The bum neither (a) discovered America nor (b) proved the world was round! For (a), almost 500 years prior, Leif Erikson was already exploring the new world. And as for (b), Columbus never proved one could go east by going west. So, his blunder makes him famous? Sheesh! He even gets his own holiday! We should be celebrating Leif Erikson Day! 
Nah, St. Brendan Day.
We should, of course, be commemorating the first person/people to arrive in what is now Alaska. Unfortunately, his/her/their name(s) would have been in language now extinct, and the name(s) have not been passed down to us.
You don’t think the guy who largely initiated the European colonization of the Americas is important historically? Whether it’s a subject for commemoration, of course, depends upon one’s point of view.
Your point is well taken, however, Columbus is important for more reasons:
-his voyage of discovery marked the end of the medieval era in Europe
-his discovery of America made Spain a major world power, and precipitated the rise of Europe
-the importation of the poatao (from Peru, by Pizarro) marked the beginning of a population explosion in Europe, launching us into modern times!
Leif Erickson was in the continent for months only and had absolutely no effect on its history.
…and what **aldiboronti ** said.
Yes. In a practical sense, “discovered” does not mean “first to go there”. It means “first to visit and communicate a reasonably accurate description.”
The contributions of Columbus are explained well in this recent SD Staff Report, about half way down:
While Columbus was neither the first person, nor the first European to visit the Americas, his voyage unquestionably initiated the period of major contact and interchange between the Eastern and Western hemispheres. It marks one of the major turning points in world history, and hence the date itself is justly commemorated. And I think commemorated rather than celebrated is the proper word, considering the horrendous consequences for the native peoples of the Americas.
While the Vikings and perhaps some other Europeans visted the Americas well before Columbus, their voyages were largely dead-ends. They had little or no impact on either Europe or the Americas.
Whether Columbus himself, as a person, should be honored or not, is debatable. As I have remarked in other threads, he was the luckiest crackpot in history. Although he was correct in principle that you could reach the Far East by sailing west, most other educated people of the day understood this as well. The issue was not whether the world was round, or that you could reach Asia by going west, but how far away it was. Columbus cherry-picked and fudged the available evidence to convince himself and ultimately his sponsors that Asia was much closer to Europe than it actually is. This was the only thing that made his expedition feasible considering the sailing technology of the day. If the Americas hadn’t coincidently been almost exactly where he calculated Asia to be, he would have had to turn back or else would have starved to death (or at least have died of scurvy) along with his crew.
Columbus perhaps deserves some credit for being a master navigator, and for his dauntless courage. On the other hand, he was a monumentally avaricious megalomaniac, an obsessional nutter, a slaver, and responsible for theft, murder, and rape on a massive scale by those under his authority.
In my personal opinion, all things considered, it is appropriate to commemorate the day, but as a recognition of the encounter of cultures that began that day, rather than in honor of a person of such questionable character as Columbus.
Though no account has been passed don to us, through oral tradition or otherwise, I can imiagine the first visitor to Alaska going back to the others in his clan, and saying something like, “I just found some better hunting grounds a day’s walk east of here. I suggest that we move our tents there, so that we can eat better.”
Does Greenland count as part of the Americas or not? It’s an island, I know, but Columbus’s first and most significant visit only went to islands, not the mainland. Not that I’m trying to say Erickson = Columbus, for the reasons stated above, but I’ve never understood why pro-Norse-America-Discoverer arguments only count Vinland, but not Greenland.
A probably dumb question.
District of Columbia.
DC.
The center for US government.
How did that name come about? Is it because Columbus ‘discovered’ North America?
Have you ever seen Greenland? It’s not exactly a happenin’ place. Suffice it to say that noone much thought about it then or now.
I don’t know about DC, but Columbus never landed in North America. I’m not sure who was the first to after Columbus though, anyone? Was it Giovanni De Verazzano or Hernando de Soto, or someone else entirely?
..and which decription led to further, successful trips. Or Colibri likely put it better as *"…initiated the period of major contact and interchange between the Eastern and Western hemispheres"
*
As the Viking trips could be argued to have "“first to visit and communicate a reasonably accurate description.”
As you note, the chance of being recognized as the discoverer is related to how effectively the information is communicated. Columbus had the distinct advantage that whatever success he had was likely to be widely noted and long remembered. A big part of the reason was a written language in which to record the details.
The first European documented to have visited North America after the Vikings was John Cabot (Giovanni Caboto), an Italian sailing in the service of England, who explored Newfoundland and Nova Scotia in 1497.
Columbus himself explored a substantial part of the coast of the North American continent, sailing all along the coast from Honduras to Panama in 1502-1503. He founded the first temporary European settlement on the mainland of the Americas at Santia Maria de Belen in Panama in late 1502. He was soon driven out by the local Indians.
Columbus was the first European to see the mainland of any part of the Americas south of Canada as well, exploring the coast of South America on his third voyage in 1498. He did not, however, land on the continent, only on the island of Trinidad.
Agreed. Part of the description needs to include how to get back there.
And few claim that the Vikings do not deserve to be mentioned as discoverers. But it was unquestionably what followed from Columbus’ voyages that accounts for his prominence.
Columbus gets the credit because when he discovered America it was the first time it stayed discovered.
I think you have a right to be skeptical. I asked the same question a few years ago and got some great responses. Basically, Columbus never knew that he found any new lands. He was the probably the luckiest and biggest crackpot in history. He loved to sail around the Caribbean during four voyages just like the Love Boast yet he died thinking he took cruises around Asia. The tenuous success of his voyages was based his flawed and incredibly ignorant and minority view of the circumference of the earth. He never visited North America except in the most trivial and pedantic way. He was a despicable figure when it came to the treatment of the natives.
It is an abomination that any school history books mention him in more than one sentence let alone have a U.S. holiday named after him. He was a true crackpot that got lucky in his endeavors and accomplished nothing that the popular consciousness thinks he did. There is no reason to celebrate him publicly now yet we do for unknown reasons.
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=341842&highlight=columbus