Columbus Day, Monday October 12, 2015

"In 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue."

Time and Date.com, "Columbus Day in United States".

Christopher Columbus, famous explorer.
He "discovered" the Bahamas, Cuba, etc.
Nice Italian boy, don't be too hard on him.

....  ... "In some towns and cities, special church services, parades and large events are held. Many celebrations happen in the Italian-American community. The celebrations in New York and San Francisco are particularly noteworthy. In Hawaii Columbus Day is also known as Landing Day or Discoverer's Day.  Many states now celebrate Native Americans' Day/Indigenous People's Day instead of Columbus Day.

.... ...  Christopher Columbus is often portrayed as the first European to sail to the Americas. He is sometimes portrayed as the discoverer of the New World. However, this is controversial on many counts. There is evidence that the first Europeans to sail across the Atlantic were Viking explorers from Scandinavia. In addition, the land was already populated by indigenous peoples, who had 'discovered' the Americas thousands of years before.

Columbus Day originated as a celebration of Italian-American heritage and was first held in San Francisco in 1869. The first state-wide celebration was held in Colorado in 1907. In 1937, Columbus Day become a holiday across the United States. Since 1971, it has been celebrated on the second Monday in October. The date on which Columbus arrived in the Americas is also celebrated as the Día de la Raza (Day of the Race) in Latin America and some Latino communities in the USA. However, it is a controversial holiday in some countries and has been re-named in others.

Santa Maria cargo ship sank
off the coast of Haiti, 1492.

Columbus Day celebrations are controversial because the settlement of Europeans in the Americas led to the deaths of a very large proportion of the native people. It has been argued that this was a direct result of Columbus' actions. It is clear that the arrival of the European settlers led to the demise of a large proportion of the history and culture of the indigenous peoples of the Americas. It has also been argued that Columbus should not be honored for discovering North America, as he only went as far as some islands in the Caribbean and never got as far as mainland America."  Read more.

Reference.  History.com/Columbus Day, includes video 2:08 minutes.   Encyclopaedia Britannica/Valerie I.J. Flint, "Christopher Columbus, Italian Explorer." 

Related articles/video -  CNN/Emanuella Grinberg, 10/9/15, includes video 1:08 minutes,"The Seattle, WA, City Council voted to rename Columbus Day Indigenous Peoples Day, 10/6/2014."  

"Instead of Columbus Day, some celebrate this."  "This Monday, instead of celebrating Christopher Columbus, some cities and schools are honoring the people he encountered in the New World and their descendants. More jurisdictions this year are recognizing the second Monday in October as Indigenous People's Day, building on efforts to shift the holiday's focus away from the Italian explorer without officially replacing it on the calendar. .... ...  Berkeley, California, is thought to be the first city to adopt Indigenous People's Day, in 1992, building on global efforts to correct the misconception that Columbus was the first explorer to reach the banks of the New World."   News.Mic blog/Natasha Norman, 10/0/15, "Even more cities join movement to rename "Columbus Day" to Indigenous Peoples' Day."   

Related, Federal Holidays. FindTheDate/Federal Holiday List (10), Columbus Day, 10/12/15. Other Federal Holidays: Christmas Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Memorial Day, New Year's Day, Presidents' Day, Thanksgiving Day, Veterans Day. 

Note photographs. Christopher Columbus/globe image face page to History.com/Videos,"Leif Erickson vs. Christoper Columbus".  Christopher Columbus/ship image face page to History.com/Columbus Day exploration videos. Replica of  the 1492 Santa Maria cargo ship from a NY Daily NewsDon Kaplan, 5/15/14 article. 

Posted by Kathy Meeh