Perhaps the greatest unintended consequence of the past millennium was Columbus’s accidental encounter with the Americas in 1492. The Genovese explorer was attempting to do what Vasco da Gama would achieve six years later: discover the sea route to Asia. The Portuguese explorer, rather than travelling west across the Atlantic, travelled south and then east and realised Columbus’s dream by establishing the nautical connection between Europe and the fabled Indies.
上一個千年最大的意料之外的后果,或許就是1492年哥倫布(Columbus)誤打誤撞發現美洲大陸。這位熱那亞探險家原本試圖探索一條通往亞洲的海上通道——這條通道直到6年后才由葡萄牙探險家瓦斯科?達伽馬(Vasco da Gama)發現。達伽馬沒有向西穿過大西洋,而是向南航行,隨后折向東,開辟了歐洲通往傳說中的東印度(Indies)的海上通道,從而實現了哥倫布的夢想。