22. Few Mistakes Have Changed the World as Much as Columbus’ Math Mistake
Not many mistakes have had consequences as far-reaching as Christopher Columbus’ math mistakes. He eventually reached the Caribbean, whose islands he believed were the western outskirts of Asia. So he named them the West Indies. In subsequent voyages, he explored the Caribbean and the northern coast of South America. When not exploring, he was governor and viceroy of the Caribbean. In that capacity, he brutally treated, enslaved, and decimated the native population, whom he incorrectly labeled Indians.
To his dying day, Columbus insisted that he had reached Asia. Ironically, the New World discovered by Columbus would not bear his name, but wound up being named after another Italian explorer, Amerigo Vespucci. Amerigo mapped the eastern shore of South America down to Brazil, and demonstrated that what Columbus had reached was not Asia, but a hitherto unknown world. A German mapmaker labeled the New World “America” after Amerigo. His maps were quite popular during 1500, so the name America spread and stuck.
