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Show Columbus Was Wrong, But Opened West's Door It was in the first week of August, 1492, that Columbus sailed from Palos, Spain, in search of a route across the Atlantic to China and the Far East. With three ships he sailed westward for more than nine weeks before land was joyously sighted. COLUMBUS was looking for islands west of the Sargasso Sargas-so Sea. When a lookout sighted sight-ed Watling Island, on the morning of Oct. 12, Columbus thought he had reached India, named the natives Indians and called the island San Salvador. Careful research has established estab-lished that Columbus was not the first to discover America. A Viking, Leif Ericsson, had arrived almost five hundred years earlier. BUT COLUMBUS' discovery discov-ery opened the "New World" to trade and was a paramount historical importance. That's why his discovery is a national holiday. |