Why does the school system teach that Christopher Columbus found America first when he didn't?

Oh, the official reason is that the Norwegians (or Greenlanders and Icelanders, as nationality back then was more connected with where you lived than your ancestry) left North America in 1010 (apart from Greenland, but I'll come back to that later), as "though the land might be choice and good, there would be always war and terror overhanging them, from those who dwelt there before them," i.e. during a trade with the natives the Norse had accidentally caused the natives to attack them after one of them hit a native that touched his axe in the belief he tried to steal it (the expedition leader had forbidden trading weaponry with the natives). If the Vikings had had any idea of the vast riches of the Americas... I'd be writing in Norwegian right now. The Norse went as far south as the northern US (certainly Maine, probably as far south as Long Island), and perhaps even farther (some say the bearded gods of the Mexican and South American religions were Vikings). Imagine tens of thousands of Scandinavian settlers landing all along the North American coastline in hundreds of ships... Because Norway from 1261 included all colonies in the kingdom and got a trade monopoly with them, the wealth flowing to Scandinavia after that would be enormous. God knows what they would have been able to unleash upon Europe. At the very least it would be the United States of Vinland over in the Americas.

So, as I said, the official reason is that the Norse colonization stopped in 1010, meaning it had little effect on the later colonization. Instead Columbus stumbled upon the continents (he was a pretty nasty bloke, by the way), meaning the wealth flowed to Spain (and then later England and France when they could come up with excuses to claim the land) instead of Norway, and then Amerigo Vespucci mapped it, meaning it was named "America" instead of Vinland, and history this way took a completely different turn. The world could have looked completely different. Take the American Revolution (or War of Independence, whichever you prefer). Why did it happen and why was it won by the colonists? It happened because of the the taxes imposed to pay off the debts after a war with France, and it was won because the French Navy kept the British from sending reinforcements to the colonies. Norway was traditionally allied with France, and if they had a colonization headstart of several centuries, there might not be any other countries in North America to fight over the Ohio Valley. No American Revolution. A slight twist in history is all that is necessary to wipe a country completely off the map, or create a new one.

The unofficial reason (as opposed to the Norse colonization was significant), was that although Scandinavian scholars started to claim America was Vinland already in the 1500's (and some claim Columbus knew of the continent because he went to Norway and possibly Iceland with a trading expedition in the 1470's, from where he could have visited North America, but that is rather impossible because the vital restocking port at Greenland had been abandoned in 1408), most European scholars refused to believe this until the 20th century. In the US the school system adopted the same stance and denied the claims until 1960. However, by 1960 public perception of American history through things like Columbus Day had already been so ingrained into the American consciousness that both the school system and the government prefer to keep their mouth shut about it to avoid offending the countless Italian-Americans, Spanish-Americans and Latin-Americans who all owe their existence to Columbus' discovery. As far as I know, only Minnesota and Wisconsin (both heavily populated with Norwegian-Americans) publicly discuss Leif Erikson Day (October 9th) celebrations.

PS: The Irish, Portuguese and Chinese also all claim to have come before the Vikings. However, there is no proof of them there, the Irish did not possess sufficient ship technology at the time to cross the Atlantic, the Portuguese fishermen could not afford ships to cross the Atlantic, and the Chinese, who documented everything, never mention any new lands to the East apart from Japan.

America was not discovered by Amerigo Vespucci. Amerigo made maps that were considered to be the best at the time (considering how far off they were from reality, it is more telling about the state of cartography back then). Amerigo lived long after Columbus.

Lief Erikson, a viking, did discover America. He discovered lots of islands, like Iceland and Greenland. They purposefully named the one that had green plants growing on it "Iceland" and the one that had ice all over the place "Greenland" in order to confuse anybody who might hear rumors and try to hone in on their discovery. So Lief set foot on Newfoundland, but frankly, he didn't know it was a continent. He was under the impression that, like Greenland, it was a really big island. His discovery was lost to antiquity and was eventually rediscovered later. On the other hand, since the discovery by Columbus, there was a continuing knowledge and exploration of America.

So, you're right, however, as Lief's discovery had little to no lasting impact, you can see how easy it is to discount.

PS: It has long been rumored, though never proven, that in fact Columbus was not the first (aside from Lief). The rumor goes that some Portuguese fishermen got caught in a storm and ended up finding America. They made a map that they sold to Columbus. Columbus would not get funding until he revealed the map to the queen. For what it is worth, that is the rumor.

Do you really want an answer?

Its all in the definitions.

Most schools do not teach that Columbus "found" america first. They teach that Columbus "discovered" America. And even then, I dont remember any of them saying "first". They tend to say "discovered in the name of Spain" or "introduced America to Europe".

After all, what would first be? Before Columbus was the Vikings but did they take the information back to anyone? Before that was polynesians "discovering" Hawaii. Before that was Clovis culture which came from Europe across the Bering Strait down into America. And of course there is evidence that even they found people here already.

Since the American culture considers itself to be mostly descended from European immigrants, then its considered that Columbus is who "discovered" the Americas for us.

Actually the Vikings discovered America. (If your not counting the Natives themselves) Amerigo Vespucci was Columbus's mapmaker, so I guess he got the last laugh.

A lot of what we 'learn' is propaganda set up by the people in charge to give us a feel-good world view or not disturb the status quo, to see them as righteous or heroic, etc.

Not only was Columbus not here first, he was a pretty bad dude from a moral standpoint.

Because Columbus was a member of the Knights Templar which has significant meaning to the Illuminati.

Your father is correct. Concerning slaves: From the October 12, 1492 entry in his journal he wrote of them, "Many of the men I have seen have scars on their bodies, and when I made signs to them to find out how this happened, they indicated that people from other nearby islands come to San Salvador to capture them; they defend themselves the best they can. I believe that people from the mainland come here to take them as slaves. The Spread of Syphilis: There is increasing modern scientific evidence that this voyage also brought syphilis back from the New World. Many of the crew members who served on this voyage later joined the army of King Charles VIII in his invasion of Italy in 1495 resulting in the spreading of the disease across Europe and as many as 5 million deaths.

Christopher Columbus Illuminati

Maybe CC was a symbol for something and that's why it was taught.

I think it's just so they can tie it all in with the americans settling...revolutionary war...civil war...and so on.