the discovery lesson
Answers
'Discovery' of the Americas
Although Columbus was not even the first European to 'discover' or even explore the Americas, having been preceded by the Norse expedition led by Leif Ericson, he was the first to create extended interest in the New World and make it a centerpiece of colonization efforts by the Spanish, French, English, and others.
If there actually had been other Europeans who traveled to the Americas earlier, why, then, do we say Christopher Columbus 'discovered' America? Well, Benjamin Franklin didn't really 'discover' electricity, nor did Henry Ford 'discover' the internal combustion engine or the automobile. But these men's names are associated with each of these achievements. So, perhaps a better way to phrase it would be 'encounter'; this emphasizes how the 'discovery' was mutual.
Columbus not only encountered America, but he did so in an 'official' capacity, on behalf of Queen Isabella of Spain. Columbus was not sailing just for adventure or to prove the world was round, as many of us learned in 4th grade, but to get a share of the tremendous profits that were to be made by reaching the Indies.