What's being overlooked is Colon's creativity and persistence. Just to get funding for the first voyage, Colon creatively used estimations of distances to make his 'new route' to Asia seem feasible. He took the low estimate for the westward route and the high estimate for the eastward route to make the new trade route appear desirable. Then, because he needed to leave some crew on the island before he sailed back, he befrieded some Taino chiefs. Meanwhile, he was capturing other Tainos to sell into slavery. And later, when it was realized that he hadn't landed anywhere near Asia, and that his estimate of the size of the earth must be way low, Colon came up with a gem. He responded that the earth must be shaped like a pear.
We should not give Colon too much credit for 'discovering' the Americas or for 'proving' that the earth was round. But we should give him credit for risking his neck and for being a creative in gaining support for what benefitted him.
