To His Dying Day, Columbus Insisted That He Had Actually Reached Asia
In addition to his math mistake, Columbus was unaware that an unknown continental landmass lay between Spain and Asia. Ultimately, he reached the Caribbean, whose islands he believed were the western outskirts of Asia. So he named them the West Indies. In subsequent voyages, Columbus 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 final breath, 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 conclusively 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 in the 1500, so the name America spread and stuck.
