Things Overheard: American History Version

I was eavesdropping, I mean reading, at a local coffee shop this weekend when I heard a loud, confident voice proclaim, "Well, the truth about Columbus is..."

This comment would have caught my attention under any circumstances but since I am teaching American History right now and since I just finished George Grant's lecture "Columbus Myths" I was particularly interested.

Oh, which of the many Columbus falsehoods was this young swaggering college student about to utter.

He continued, "The truth is that Columbus discovered Canada, but thought that he had discovered the West Indies. He never knew that he had actually discovered North America."

Wow. Just wow.

This statement didn't even make it onto Dr. Grant's list of things people get wrong about Columbus.

I hope this guy wasn't a history major.