[RightWhale]

accidentally stumbling upon the Americas

Somewhat. He was quite the explorer already. His mission this time was to find a route to India (they say China in public school) that went around the supremely annoying Arabs.

[muawiyah]

"Turks" ~ the Arabs had not been particularly bothersome for the previous 400 years since they were under the thumb of the Ottomans, who were NOT Arabs.

[grey_whiskers]

Hmmm, piracy? Or avoiding sailing around the Cape of Africa?

Full Disclosure: Some days I'm lucky if I can correctly find my way out of my driveway [...before being ensnared by Free Republic, that is...]

Cheers!

[Verginius Rufus]

Columbus was trying to get to "Cypango" (Japan) which he knew from reading Marco Polo to be east of China, therefore closer to Europe. "The Indies" was a general term embracing East Asia--he wasn't aiming specifically for the area we call India.

Columbus' father's name was Domenico, hence the name Santo Domingo for the city established on Hispaniola, and subsequently the name Dominican Republic...if Columbus' father had been a Pasquale it would be the Paschal Republic.

If Columbus had never sailed, the New World would have been rediscovered in 1500 by Europeans, by Pedro Cabral (who hit Brazil while trying to sail round Africa).