Christopher Columbus

His mission was to find a quick route to the East Indies for collecting nutmeg as nutmeg was believed to cure the black death at the time which made it incredibly expensive and worth sailing across the world just to get some. After arriving at America he thought he had arrived in the East Indies.

That is correct, even though that's a scam because nothing could cure Black Death.

One of the best scams in history IMO. The Nutmeg myth drove us all other the world nearly.