Columbus Day

October 12th was proclaimed "Columbus Day" by President Roosevelt in 1937, and the second Monday in October was declared a national holiday by President Nixon in 1971. The earliest known celebration of Columbus' discovery of the New World was held on October 12, 1792, in New York City by the Society of St. Tammany (also known as the Columbian Order).

The holiday marks the day in 1492 when Christopher Columbus' ships landed in the Bahamas where the Arawak people lived.

It's a popular belief that Columbus set off on his journey to prove the world was round. Actually, educated people of that time knew that the world was round. Columbus was looking for a water route to Asia in order to bring back precious gems, spices, silks and other items that Europeans desired.

His mistake was not in thinking that sailing west would bring him to the Far East but in simply not knowing that North and South America stood in his way. He also mistakenly calculated that his voyage to Japan would be a trip of 2,300 miles when, in fact, the distance between the Canary Islands and Japan is 12,200 miles.

Before taking off on his perilous journey, Columbus first had to convince a European ruler to finance his trip. He was turned down many times before Queen Isabella of Spain decided to sponsor him.

Most people know that he set sail with three ships - the Nina, the Pinta and the Santa Maria. The voyage began on August 3, 1492. A more obscure fact about the journey is that, after being in unfamiliar waters for weeks, his sailors threatened to mutiny. Columbus pleaded with his crew for a little more time and shortly thereafter land was sighted.

Columbus made four trips from Europe to the New World but never set foot on the mainland of North America.

The controversy surrounding Columbus Day involves the fact that it's impossible to "discover" a land if people are already living there. Also, native American peoples Columbus encountered were often enslaved and treated brutally, thus raising the question of whether his discovery of the "new world" should be a cause for celebration. Additionally, new diseases were introduced to the New World by Columbus and other explorers which wiped out scores of native people.

There is also ample evidence that the Vikings ventured into North America well before Columbus ever landed here. However, there is little doubt that Columbus' discovery opened a whole new world to the Europeans of his time.

Sources: http://www.information-entertainment.com/Holidays/columbusday.html

Easy Ways with Holidays by Sandra Sanders, Scholastic Book Services, New York

http://www.theholidayzone.com/columbus/history.html

http://www.history.com/content/columbusday/holiday-history