Christopher Columbus was born in Portugal, and was the earliest recorded European to go to North America. According to the heliocentric worldview, the Earth is round, so Columbus could, theoretically, travel around the world to Asia. Columbus wanted to travel to India for the spices and other items of value in that country. Instead, he found San Salvador, one of the Caribbean Islands.
Columbus decided to attempt to travel west instead of east around the world, in order to reach India. He finally got a contract from Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain to finance a journey, and he had a small fleet assembled. Columbus, rather than finding an alternate route to India, instead stumbled upon the Caribbean Islands. The first Island he came upon, he named San Salvador. It was inhabited by native peoples. Columbus was surprised when they were not hostile, and they did not have any of the modern weapons that the rest of the world had. Columbus thought he was in China or Japan. He had no clue he had discovered a new continent. He made one more stop before he went back to Europe, where he encountered his first hostile group of people. He did escape to tell the tale, and sailed back to Europe.
Upon sailing home, he inspired many others to explore and travel in America including Amerigo Vespucci, Ferdinand Magellan, and others. Columbus has many, many cities, states, etc named after him here in America. Columbus’ journeys, in short, led to the adventures of others, who discovered the larger continent of America.