Four Voyages, Zero Clues

Columbus crossed the Atlantic four times between 1492 and 1504, and never once admitted where he really was:

• First voyage (1492) — landed in the Bahamas and called the people "Indians," sure he was near India
• Second voyage (1493) — brought 1,200 colonists and founded a settlement that fell into chaos
• Third voyage (1498) — reached South America and decided it was the Garden of Eden
• Fourth voyage (1502) — got stranded in Jamaica for a year, still claiming China was close

Four chances to update his map, and he took none of them. His refusal to be wrong would soon cost the people he ruled far more than it cost him.