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Columbus clearly discovered America in the sense that almost no maps or atlases or catalogs on the world island comprising Europe, Asia and Africa had any hint of the existence of land between Asia and Europe in 1492 but by 1510, almost all new maps and atlases reflect the knowledge of America.

“Viking Maps” and sagas, to the extent they actually existed are at best ephemera, not part of mankind’s base of knowledge. That information had almost no influence on the wider world’s perception, unlike Columbus.

I always phrase it as Columbus opened the trade routes to the new world. Sure the clovis (sp?) people walked here, but they never walked back. The Vikings came, looked around and went home. Once Columbus showed up there was a steady stream of ships in both directions that has never stopped.

If the insistence is on the word discover, just point out that if a something is discovered, then forgotten, it is possible to rediscover it. Evidence statements in the press like "Scientists discovered how Ancient Sumerians made batteries from clay jars".

Columbus was a great explorer, and a lousy administrator. He was removed as governor of Hispaniola because of his poor management that resulted in the deaths of much of the local population. Columbus is definitely a man with an asterisk after his name. Great explorer and navigator, but an nasty piece of work if you were not someone he needed something from. But most of the great explorers were odd in one way or another. Hudson was mutinied, Magellan lost almost his entire fleet, Lewis and Clark were both emotionally troubled individuals. Only Cook was generally a decent person from almost every angle. And his decency and concern for his crews made him an odd ball in his day and age. People who are drawn to exploration are usually different in some way. Probably because "Normal" people don't sail off the end of the map.