There's always one.......Columbus discovered the New World and actually did something about it. He also made more than one journey, and started the European upgrade in the Americas from Stone Age, violent, warring cultures that killed and enslaved each other to great settlement and technological advancement. Yes there were negatives, but nothing the natives weren't doing to each other.
He is a TRUE hero and was a very brave man. You sail that far when everyone else says you'll fall off the end of the Earth or be swallowed by serpents, and monsters.