Why Mythologize Columbus?

I think that historians have mythologized Columbus because they want someone to represent the founding of America. Although Columbus didn't actually discover America, people use him as a figurehead of the founding of our great nation, because they have no one else to use. Someone needed to be credited for the founding of America, so the credit landed on Columbus. From here, Christopher Columbus is easily mythologized and fantasized because Americans wanted the "founder" of our nation to be a fearless explorer and a generous leader. No one wants to accept the truth that the founder of America was a rich, snobby, corrupt murderer.