7 Widely Believed Historical Facts That Are Not True

1. Christopher Columbus was the first to discover America

Many students learn about the discovery of America by Columbus and even Google’s first search results regard the Italian explorer Christopher Columbus to be the discoverer of America in 1492.

As the Washington Post points out, Columbus didn’t “discover” America: besides the fact that there were already people living there, indeed he wasn’t even the first European to visit the Western Hemisphere, either.

Leif Erikson — an explorer from Iceland — is believed to have landed and made a settlement in North America 500 years before Columbus’ visit to America. Besides that, Columbus never set foot on the soil of the North American mainland, but only on various Caribbean islands.