their advisors saying that columbus's view of the round world was too small (they knew the world wasnt flat dont know why that myth keeps getting told) is pretty amazing.

Columbus also did some not so great things with the natives (from a 21st century perspective) and he also proved the line from the dark knight correct (you either die the hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain) in that he was hauled back to spain for being a crappy governor.

While he wasnt the first European to discover the Americas he was the one who helped push global trade forward leaps and bounds. He deserves to be recognized for that if nothing else.

Go read 1491 and 1493 ( 1493 might actually be the better choice but both are fascinating books)