His sails had the Templar cross on them. The Templars started the Freemasons.

The flat earth conspiracy of his time was started by the Catholics in conjunction with the Templars and other satanic groups to prevent Christians from converting the indigenous people of the Americas to Christianity. Also they used this time to exploit American gold.

When it became obvious they could no longer keep up the farce they set Columbus up as the "discoverer" of the new world.