Columbus's real greatness lies in the fact that having found the West Indies- making major errors in his navigational computations and location in doing so - he was able to find his way back to Europe and return to the indies. t is as the result of Columbus's discovery that the New World became part of the European worldColumbus's real greatness lies in the fact that having found the West Indies — making major errors in his navigational computations and location in doing so — he was able to find his way back to Europe and return to the Indies. It is as the result of Columbus's “discovery” that the New World became part of the European world