Good Grief, how long are we going to perpetuate this myth?
Even Columbus knew the continents were here - he had access to the maps and records of the Vikings voyages up and down the eastern seaboard, and their settlements in Greenland = and many other previous voyages - Sir Henry Sinclair, Jarl of Orkney, Scotland sailed, with many ships to Nova Scotia almost 100 years (1398) before Columbus sailed the ocean blue - (and he was, say the experts, Genoese, not Italian.
Columbus set out to find a new route - between the continents - to the Indies...etc etc etc
Let it go.
The article said "Columbus first discovered the new world in 1492." I think that can be taken to mean that he first found it for himself in 1492. Much like you could say that I first discovered mole enchiladas in 1995...but I'm not the one who invented the dish.