That's right. Everything you know about Christopher Columbus is a lie.

While you may feel like you know the truth about Christopher Columbus you really don't. A lot of us know that our first narrative from elementary school is wrong. At first, we learn that he discovered America and was a really cool explorer. We get the day off of school because of him; therefore, we can't help but think, "wow, he must have been a good guy."

Then in high school, we figure out that we are wrong. We learn that Columbus didn't 'discover' America. We learn that he thought he found India. We learn that he treated the indigenous people poorly. We learn that he was actually a bad dude. We think that we actually know who Christopher Columbus is. We thought wrong.

Last year in my Core class, which is an interdisciplinary study of history, English, religious studies and philosophy, we learned about Christopher Columbus and I realized I didn't know anything about him. After listening to Dr. Bill Trollinger, a professor at the University of Dayton, I learned more about Columbus than I had in all my years of school.

So who was Christopher Columbus and what did he believe?

Columbus was a biblical scholar.

We all know that Columbus was looking for a faster trade route to India, but what we don't know is why. We all think he was just trying to get rich. It was all about the money. And in a way it was. But also it totally wasn't.

Columbus thought that he was going to bring about the second coming of Jesus. I'm serious. He thought that Jesus would only return once Christians retook the Holy Land. At this time it was in the hands of Muslims. Columbus believed that by finding a faster trade route to India he would be able to raise a fortune and use that fortune to finance his own personal crusade.

That's right Columbus wanted, another Crusade.

Columbus believed that once he had the money he could finance his Crusade and win back the Holy Land. After that, he believed Christ could come again. On top of this, Columbus thought that God was calling to him personally to bring Jesus back to the world. Columbus set out on this journey as a call from God.

Columbus knew the world was round.

You didn't read that wrong. Columbus actually knew the world was round when he set out on his first voyage. In fact, all of the educated people, including church officials, knew the world was round at this time. It is pure invention that Columbus thought he was sailing off to the end of the world. Washington Irving made this up in his 1828 biography of Columbus.

When you think about it that actually makes a lot of sense. Why would Columbus think he could reach India, which is to the east of Spain, if he thought the world was flat. The only reason why he would go west is because he knew the Earth was round and meant he would end up in India eventually.

While Columbus knew the Earth was round, he had no idea how big it was. In fact, he thought it was much smaller it really is. Everyone else in the world thought it was much bigger than Columbus. This is why he had such a hard time getting funding for his trip. Everyone knew he was wrong and no one wanted to waste money on him.

Columbus was an idiot.

Columbus had no idea that he never reached India. He died thinking that he had gone to India even after four separate voyages. He literally never knew he set foot on a place no Europeans knew existed.

He never stepped foot in North America either. Most of us believe he found the United States with our ethnocentric thinking, but in reality, he only ever was in the Caribbean islands.

Columbus also believed in mermaids. Whatever he wanted to be true was true for him. Columbus saw a bunch of manatees and believed they were mermaids. He went around telling people he saw mermaids and that they weren't as pretty as we all thought they were.

So this year when you celebrate Columbus day don't be fooled by the narrative you were taught in school. Columbus is not the first American hero, and he doesn't deserve his own day.