Why should christopher columbus be consider the greatest explorer why or why not?

He was originally supposed to go to India when in fact, he discovered America. As a "Heroic Explorer" he fails. Mistakes like that should not be considered heroic. For all we know, he could have ended up on the Bermuda Triangle and be lost at sea. As for him discovering the land itself, his job also was to report his findings and what he found was a group of individuals that would be perfect to be exploited for the British Elite Monarch. He is an explorer at best but no hero. It really phases me how this is a American Holiday.