Did Columbus died without knowing he has found a new continent ?

I don't have a definitive answer -- what I've seen is ambiguous.  It appears that Columbus thought that he had discovered a new land.  On the other hand, he may have felt that this land was connected to Asia.  For example, here's a quote from the Encarta article about Columbus: "Without giving in to the idea that he was someplace other than Asia, he did manage to report, 'I believe this is a very large continent which until now has remained unknown.'"  (You can find this quote

From my understanding the edge of this continent was only discovered by Europeans in 1793 by Alexander Mackenzie.Who was the first to cross North America. Before that the west was unknown.....

In one of his journal columbus wrote that he had discovered a new nautical route between Europe and a "new continent."