Well, I think it's reasonable to say that Columbus wasn't a very nice guy (among other things, a pathological liar, a murderer and an incompetent administrator), but it is not reasonable to diminish the profound importance of his discovery. It is difficult to overemphasize how monumentally important the 1492 discovery was.
Can we not have a discussion here w/o bring Ted Kennedy into every one?
;)
By todays standards there were very few nice guys back then. And your assessment of him was right on the mark. We just have to look at him as being a product of the times in which he lived. As an Irish-American I can rave on about Irish Monks getting here well before him....but a few stones and/or scratchings being left and nothing else do not make for a significant contribution. Thus, lets give him his due no matter what revisionists say.