I'm 76.  When I was 8 years old I learned about Columbus in Catholic school and wondered why people thought he was such a hero.  His navigation was terrible.  He miscalculated the distance from Spain to China and bumped into America by mistake.  He enslaved an entire population of a million indians and killed almost 900,000 of them trying to find gold.  His king had him shipped back to Spain in chains for the crimes he committed.  When he finally tried to get back to Hispaniola, the Governor refused to let him land his ships and he almost died.  He was shunned by everyone of his time.  Might as well put up a stature of Hitler.