Christopher Columbus's arrival in the New World, although an accident, was an event that changed the world. Columbus had intended to reach the riches of Japan, India, and China by sailing west from Spain across the Atlantic Ocean, instead of attempting the difficult voyage around Africa.

Though Columbus was correct in suggesting that the world was round, he was not the first to do so. In fact, the idea had first been proposed by the ancient Greeks. Nor was he the first European to reach the New World; recent archaeological evidence reinforces Scandinavian oral histories that recount voyages to what is today Canada almost five hundred years before Columbus.

However, Columbus and many others underestimated the size of the planet, and this miscalculation became painfully obvious as he and his small flotilla made their way across the Atlantic in 1492. Consequently...