History Lesson: Christopher Columbus Thinks Manatees Are Mermaids

    And this is what he said about them.

    Leonora Epstein
    by Leonora Epstein

    BuzzFeed Staff

    January 9, 1493, six months after Columbus set sail for the New World, he sees....

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    These guys. But thinks they're....

    en.wikipedia.org

    Mermaids!

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    And then says: [They're] "not half as beautiful as they are painted." Womp-womp.