Did Christopher Columbus believe America was India? Many of us might recall learning in school that when Christopher Columbus reached the New World, he believed that he had reached India. For that reason, Native Americans are often called Indians. However, Wikipedia claims he actually knew where he had arrived: > Never admitting that he had reached a continent previously unknown to Europeans, rather than the East Indies he had set out for, Columbus called the inhabitants of the lands he visited _indios_ (Spanish for "Indians"). Unfortunately, the only sources are books so I can't check up on them. Did Columbus know he had reached a new continent? If so, why would he lie to the Spanish government?

Michael Shermer covers this in The Believing Brain, stating that Columbus held this belief until his death.

Vartec's link also supports this from an EDU site.

> Columbus, who, to his death, clung to the idea that he had found the shores of Asia

In Shermer's book, he talks about finding data that is totally unexpected, so that you can't accept the new information, and thus integrate it with your already held notions. That is in essence what Columbus did. Columbus had no reason to "lie" since he was convinced by his own brain that he had found Asia, and he was going to stick to that story. He even had incentive to say he found new lands according to the wikipage you cited:

> According to the contract that Columbus made with King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, if Columbus discovered any new islands or mainland, he would receive many high rewards.

He didn't, although he did take on governorship of the islands he believed to be the Indies, and acted "poorly" as said governor.