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He acted on what he believed. That fact doesn't make him a clown to me.

The dude sailed boats in the unknown to give humanity new horizons. Who cares if he was wrong at the start.

This is a very Eurocentric view of the new world. Asia had already settled in the Americas by South Pacific Islanders and the north by baring land bridge. And the northeast had Viking settlements.

This evidence is new in the same way that Steve jobs invented the point and click GUI

It is not who got here first. It is who stayed and changed the world.

The (re)discovery of America in 1492 is arguably the most important discovery in history. It changed everything in very deep ways. Europe started looking outwards while Asia stayed looking inwards.

If the voyages of the South Pacific Islanders and the Vikings were admirable, then surely so was that of Columbus? It's not as though they had better maps than he did.

Columbus's success wasn't based on any of his own maps or projections, he basically stumbled upon success out of sheer luck.

This is like winning the lottery and thinking you're a visionary businessman.

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