Everything about Columbus Day totally explained
Columbus Day is a
holiday in the United States celebrating the anniversary of
Christopher Columbus's arrival in the Americas, which happened on the
October 12,
1492 in the
Julian calendar, or
October 21,
1492 in the modern
Gregorian calendar. Similar holidays, celebrated as
Día de la Raza (Day of the Race) in many countries in
Latin America,
Día de las Culturas (Day of the Cultures) in
Costa Rica,
Discovery Day in
The Bahamas,
Día de la Hispanidad and
National Day in
Spain,
Discoverer's Day in
Hawaii, and the newly renamed (as of 2002)
Día de la Resistencia Indígena (Day of Indigenous Resistance) in
Venezuela,
Discovery Day also in Colombia, commemorate the same event.
Encounter with the Americas
Columbus Day commemorates Columbus' famed expedition across the Atlantic Ocean, in which he hoped to find a naval route to
India. Instead, he found an entire continent that was mostly unknown to Europeans at the time. While other Europeans had sporadically visited the Americas earlier, and there are
varied theories of even earlier contact by East Asians, Phoenicians, and others, Columbus' expedition triggered the great wave of European interest in the New World. Unlike the earlier visitors, Columbus aggressively popularized his discoveries and arranged for
return voyages.
United States observance
The first Columbus Day celebration was held in
1792, when
New York City celebrated the 300th anniversary of his landing in the New World. In
1892, President
Benjamin Harrison called upon the people of the United States to celebrate Columbus Day on the 400th anniversary of the event.
Some
Italian-Americans observe Columbus Day as a celebration of their heritage, the first occasion being in New York City on
October 12,
1866. Columbus Day was popularized as a holiday in the United States by a lawyer, a son of
Genoese immigrants who came to
California. During the 1850s, Genoese immigrants settled and built ranches along the
Sierra Nevada foothills. As the gold ran out, these skilled "Cal-Italians", from the
Apennines, were able to prosper as self-sufficient farmers in the
Mediterranean climate of Northern California.
San Francisco has the second oldest Columbus Day celebration, with
Italians having commemorated it there since 1869.
This lawyer then moved to
Colorado, which had a population of Genoese miners, and where, in 1907, the first state-wide celebration was held. In 1934, at the behest of the
Knights of Columbus (a Catholic fraternal service organization named for the voyager), Congress and President
Franklin Delano Roosevelt set aside Columbus Day as a
Federal holiday (36 USC 107, ch. 184, 48 Stat. 657).
Since 1971, the holiday has been commemorated in the U.S. on the, the same day as
Thanksgiving in neighboring
Canada. It is generally observed today by banks, the bond market, the
US Postal Service other federal agencies, and most state government offices; however, most businesses, stock exchanges, and most school districts remain open (with the notable exception of the
New York metropolitan area where most schools are closed).
States and city observations
California
The city of
Berkeley celebrates Indigenous People's Day instead of Columbus Day.
Colorado
The Columbus Day parade in Denver has been protested by American Indian groups and their supporters for nearly two decades. Denver has the longest running parade in the United States.
Hawaii
Hawaii doesn't officially honor Columbus day and instead celebrates
Discoverer's Day on the same day, for example, on the second Monday of each October. While many in Hawaii still celebrate the life of Columbus on Columbus Day, the alternative holiday also honors
James Cook, the
British navigator that became the first person to record the coordinates of the
Hawaiian Islands and share with the world the existence of the
ancient Hawaiian
people and
society. Some people interpret the holiday as a celebration of all discoveries relative to the ancient and modern societies of Hawaii.
Many Native Hawaiians decry the celebration of both Columbus and Cook, known to have committed acts of violent subjugation of native people. Discoverer's Day is a day of protest for some advocacy groups. A popular protest site is the
Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace and the Chancery building of the
Roman Catholic Diocese of Honolulu. Such advocacy groups have been commemorating the Discoverer's Day holiday as their own alternative, Indigenous Peoples Day. The week is called Indigenous Peoples Week.
Nevada
Columbus Day isn't a legal holiday in
Nevada, but it's a day of observance. Schools and state, city and county government offices are open for business on Columbus Day.
South Dakota
In the state of
South Dakota, the day is officially a state holiday known as "Native American Day", not Columbus Day.
Día de la Raza
The date of Columbus' arrival in the Americas is celebrated in Latin America (and in some Latino communities in the USA) as the
Día de la Raza ("day of the people"), commemorating the first encounters of
Europe and
Native Americans. The day was first celebrated in
Argentina in
1917,
Venezuela in
1921,
Chile in
1923, and
Mexico in
1928. The day was also celebrated under this title in Spain until
1957, when it was changed to the "
Día de la Hispanidad" ("Hispanic Day").
In
2002, the Bolivarian Republic of
Venezuela changed the name to "
Día de la Resistencia Indígena" ("Day of Indigenous Resistance").
This is celebrated on Columbus Day, instead of celebrating Christopher Columbus, they celebrate the different races.
Opposition to Columbus Day
In
A People's History of the United States, historian
Howard Zinn discusses the cruelty he says Columbus inflicted upon Native Americans and how it was comparable to the
genocidal acts of
World War II. Zinn accuses Columbus of being a religious fanatic with an obsession of eliminating non-Christians, by means of murder, conversion, or at the very least, enslavement. He claims that Columbus was in search of personal wealth and fame, one who was willing to step over others or even kill them to achieve it. Allegedly, Columbus may have used more force than he admitted to his superiors. However, some assume that Columbus' subordinates were more responsible for the vast majority of the carnage carried out. Columbus himself claimed that he warned his men against taking advantage of the natives, as he'd planned to eventually convert them to
Christianity. A Spanish priest who traveled to
Hispaniola wrote that he was appalled to witness dehumanizing acts of cruelty being inflicted on the Indians, such as torture used to subjugate their leaders. Many of the natives ended up dying from starvation, disease, or simply being overworked.
Opposition to the holiday cites this cruelty committed by those under Columbus' leadership and that of many of the following
conquistadors. Columbus directly brought about the demise of many
Taino (Arawak) Indians on the island of
Hispaniola, and the arrival of the Europeans indirectly caused the deaths of many indigenous peoples by bringing diseases previously unknown in the "New World." An estimated 85% of the Native American population was wiped out within 150 years of Columbus' arrival in America, due largely to diseases such as
smallpox that spread among Native populations. Additionally, ensuing war and the appropriation of land and material wealth by European colonists also contributed to the decline of the indigenous populations in the Americas.
In the summer of
1990, 350 Native Americans, representatives from all over the hemisphere, met in
Quito, Ecuador, at the first
Intercontinental Gathering of Indigenous People in the Americas, to mobilize against the quincentennial celebration of Columbus Day. The following summer, in
Davis, California, more than a hundred Native Americans gathered for a follow-up meeting to the Quito conference. They declared October 12, 1992, International Day of Solidarity with Indigenous People.
The largest ecumenical body in the United States, the
National Council of Churches, called on Christians to refrain from celebrating the Columbus quincentennial, saying, "What represented newness of freedom, hope, and opportunity for some was the occasion for oppression, degradation and genocide for others."
Further Information
Get more info on 'Columbus Day'.
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