This study will argue that Christopher Columbus did not "discover" America, and that only by twisting reality can it be said that he or any European "discovered" a land which was already inhabited by other human beings. The basis of this twisting of reality is that the inhabitants of the "New World" were less than human beings, and therefore it cannot be said that the land was inhabited at all, but was instead populated by semi-humans, by near-animals, by non-Christian savages with no civilized qualities. In reality, however, the "Indians" Columbus "discovered" were indeed human beings with a subtle civilization and a fully developed religious belief system. Therefore, Columbus did not "discover America" because it had already been discovered and populated by human beings long before his arrival. He and his fellow arrogant and ethnocentric Europeans imagined that he had "discovered" the "New World" so that they could exploit it and its inhabitants in every imaginable way for their own selfish and inhumane ends.
The argument that Columbus did indeed "discover America" is weak but can be made, if one considers the issue from the ethnocentric perspective of a Christian European. Columbus did complete a remarkable achievement in sailing across the Atlantic Ocean in the late 15th Century. No European before him did what he did in leading that voyage and finding land as he did, although it was not the land he believed it to be. It can be argued from that perspective that he was a brave leader and hero who brought European culture, civilization, religion and values to the land he discovered.
William M. Davidson and Henry Noble Sherwood argue in separate articles that Columbus was indeed a great man who discovered America. Davidson calls Columbus "The Great Navigator" and says that in Columbus "passion for discovery rose to the dignity of an inspiration" (Davidson 248). Sherwood writes that Columbus and his men found "naked savages" ...