WHAT IS THE IMPORTANCE OF COLUMBUS DAY ANYWAY?
Of all the holidays celebrated in the United States, the most controversial one would be Columbus Day. Columbus Day is celebrated on Oct. 12th in recognition that Christopher Columbus was the first European explorer to set foot on American soil. But much controversy has sparked the attention of historians over the years. Who was Christopher Columbus? And should he be given the credit of discovering America?
Christopher Columbus was born somewhere between August 25th and October 31st 1452 in Genoa, a seaport town in Northern Italy. Columbus's first adventure at sailing occurred when he was merely 10 years old. Just nine years later at the age of 19, he would be sent on his first mission sailing on a Genoese Ship to try and take over the Kingdom of Naples. His adventures and sailing trips continued from there. In 1473 he made a trip to Chios, a Genoese colony in the Aegean Sea. He had signed on as an apprentice to the Centurione, Di Negro and Spinola families of Genoa. He had begun his career in the import-export business as we call it today. Three years later in 1476 he delivered cargo to Northern Europe. In 1479 he married Filipa Moniz Perestrello, the daughter of the Porto Santo, the Portuguese nobleman of Genoese origin Bartolomeu Perestrello. At this time he was still in the trading business with the Centurione family. Although not much is known regarding his wife... some say she died in 1485. There are other speculations that Columbus left her for another woman, 20-year-old orphan named Beatriz Enriquez de Arana.
Columbus heard sailors' mention land to the west of the Madeira and Azores Islands, which were in the Atlantic Ocean west of Portugal. With a thirst to know more he set out to study these islands. It was fortunate that he wrote and spoke Latin because most maps were written in this language. The books and maps that he studied suggested that the Far East wasn’t all that far way. Convinced that Japan was only 3,000 miles from Portugal-Columbus was excited at the mere fact that ships could reach their destination much quicker. Ships that were traveling from Europe to the Far East already struggled with long routes. Maybe he could find a shorter route for these ships to travel. So Columbus decided he would try and find a shorter route traveling to the East by way of the west.
Next came the task of finding someone who would fund this long voyage. It took 7 years before King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain would approve the financing for his trip. After a threat to ask the king of France they finally approved. In August 1492 he set sail with the Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria— from Palos, Spain. On October 12th, he landed in the Bahamas-and the rest they say is history. Christopher Columbus made 4 trips to the new world and died thinking he had reached the West Indies.
So the question remains-why he is accredited to discovering the New World? All evidence points to that the first Europeans to sail across the Atlantic were Viking explorers from Scandinavia. And they weren’t the first people to arrive. The land had already been populated by a group of unknown people for thousands of years. To this day, Mr. Columbus still gets the credit for discovering the New World. All history books give him the fame and glory. As for me, I choose to educate my children with the truth. Now it’s your turn, what will you tell your children about Columbus Day?
I tried to find cartoons about Columbus Day, but they were are lame. Another interesting fact is that many people think: In 1642 Columbus sailed the ocean blue. Obviously that is an error and In 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue.