DSK wrote:
Personally, I lean towards the theory that there were numerous European
voyages to America long before Columbus.

Very possible. There are extant records of Basque whaling
voyages which made temporary bases at land that sounds a lot
like Cape Cod & Nantucket. And of course there were some
records of the Viking voyages, long disbelieved.

For some reason, everybody wants to think that previous
generations had no clue.

SNIP

I don't know of any reputable historian who doesn't believe that
Columbus was not the first European to journey to the New World (L'Anse
aux Meadows (sp?), various charts, Lief Ereicsson, etc). But being
"first" isn't the point - he his importnat because his was the
expedition that "stuck" and resulted in a permanent European presence
in the Western Hemisphere