LIES+YOUR+TEACHER+TOLD+YOU


 * Lie: ** Columbus was the first to discover America.
 * The Truth: ** Columbus gets his own holiday for his so-called accomplishment, but there's no doubt he was late to the discovery game. The Vikings discovered America about 500 years before he got there, and it's likely the Polynesians found it even earlier.


 * Lie: ** Columbus realized he'd discovered a new land.
 * The Truth: ** You've probably heard that Columbus discovered America by mistake. That's fair. After all, Renaissance Europeans believed that creation had been fully revealed, so they weren't exactly expecting to find two giant continents hidden on the other side of the planet. Plus, Columbus had drastically miscalculated the circumference of the earth at 19,000 miles instead of 24,000 miles - he based his projections on the work of Pierre d' Ailly, a catholic cardinal who used roman miles (4,840 feet) instead of nautical ones (6,080 feet). Units, people!


 * Lie: ** The Puritans came to America to establish religious freedom.
 * The Truth: ** The Puritans came to America to escape other people's religious freedom.