Many people may lay claim to the discovery of the land now know as America...Phonicians, Vikings, and numerous europeans.
White spaniards were late comers on the discovery timeline.
We need to acknowledge that the people commonly referred to as Native Americans, are immigrants also. Coming from the orient across the Aleutions and dispursing southward into Central and South America and eastward across Canada and middle and east America.
Prior to Columbus, Ponce DeLeon, and others, were preceded by european ships which crossed and landed along the eastern seaboard, to repair, to obtain fresh water, food, wood, and occassionally trade with the natives.
Cartographic maps of the Americas have been found that pre-date Spanish explorers...
Pacific Islanders and sailors from the orient also crossed the Pacific to land along the western seaboard of the Americas...
And before modern Native Americans, other species of man probably inhabited the continent, as well.
I don't feel that pointing a finger to the discovery of the Americas is as important as understanding the evolution of man's history imprinted on the land itself.
