US Celebrates Columbus Day: Who Was Christopher Columbus?

By Emma Koonse, Christian Post Reporter Monday, October 10, 2011

Monday has marked the 67th American celebration of Columbus Day and people everywhere are celebrating the Italian explorer, but why?

The holiday is observed in the U.S. every second Monday in the month of October. Columbus arrived in North America on October 12, 1942, during which time most educated people believed the world was flat. In pursuit of India, the famous navigator mistakenly arrived in the New World.

As stated by the History Channel, Columbus “intended to chart a western sea route to China, India, and the fabled gold and spice islands of Asia; instead, he landed in the Bahamas, becoming the first European to explore the Americas since the Vikings set up colonies in Greenland and Newfoundland.”

Along with Christopher Columbus’ feat of finding the Americas, the Italian explorer prided himself on spreading the Christian faith to the new world. He made four transatlantic voyages to the Caribbean region between 1492 and 1504, and maintained that he had discovered Asia, even though most navigators knew he had not. When he died in 1506, Columbus felt he had never received the credit he deserved for his accomplishments.

Many public buildings were closed Monday, including banks, post offices, libraries, and the Stock Exchange.

The first Columbus Day was celebrated in the U.S. in 1972, but the holiday was officiated in Colorado 31 years earlier. Many Italian-Americans celebrate their heritage on the day

Each year, New York City’s Columbus Citizen Foundation hosts a Columbus Day Parade which includes over 35,000 participators. Around 500,000 people gathered to watch from the streets, and millions tuned in to the broadcast from home.

In San Francisco, Nicola Larco established an annual Columbus Day Parade, and the city claims the nation’s oldest existing Italian-American celebrations.

South Dakota, Hawaii, and Alaska do not recognize Columbus Day, and states California and Texas, among others, have removed the day as a paid holiday for government workers.