Columbus Day History & Cartoon Fun by Brownielocks.




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"In a museum in Havana there are two skulls of Christopher Columbus, one when he was a boy and one when he was a man."
--- Mark Twain

Christopher Columbus may be famous today as an explorer, but he died in 1506 in poverty and most of his achievements basically forgotten. Originally born in 1451 in Genoa, Italy (his parents were a wool merchant and weaver) he took off at the age of 14 to sail. A shipwreck off the coast of Portugal in 1470 caused him to swim ashore and there he settled briefly and then moved to Spain.

Christopher Columbus' discovery of America was a combination of: pure accident, a big ego and hugely under estimating the real distance between Europe and the East Indies. Back in the 15th Century, many did believe that the earth was round, but they also believed that there was a distance of 10,000 miles of ocean to cross between Europe and the East Indies. And a only an elite group actually believed a ship could make this journey successfully.

At the time, Christopher Columbus was 46 years old. He was an Italian explorer, who wasn't so good on calculations. He grossly miscalculated the distance of 10,000 to be only 2,500 (a quarter of what it really is). So some say when he set sail on August 3, 1492, he wasn't courageous, he was misguided. ;0 They feel that if he really really knew how long it was, he wouldn't have gone.

But Columbus had no intention of finding America. He wanted to find the Spice Islands aka Moluccas or East Indies. And his financial backing did not come from Italy, but from Spain. King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, were hoping he'd bring them back spices -- especially pepper! Why? Pepper was an essential spice in those days to preserve meat (they didn't have refrigeration yet) and disguise bad tastes.

No only did Columbus underestimate the distance, he somehow had no clue that there was this big huge landmass (aka North America) between Europe and the East Indies. So, after being at sea for 2 months, he landed on the island of San Salvador (historians believe Watling's Island in the Bahamas is where he really landed) , haughty and proud thinking he had accomplished his goal of sailing to the East Indies.

The Arawak Indians greeted him, but, they didn't have any spices let alone pepper. They also had no gold or really anything worth bringing back to Spain. You can imagine what Columbus thought! The trip was a total bust.

But, the Arawak Indians were peaceful. They served as guides to help Columbus for the remainder of his voyage. I shall insert a joke here. Those of us who are Italian often remark that it's a good thing Columbus wasn't afraid to ask for directions or he'd never have found anything! ;)

Well, Columbus sailed and sailed and sailed. In a 9 year time frame, he made 3 voyages eventually discovering: Dominica, Jamaica, Trinidad and the mouth of the Orinoco River on the S. American mainland. On his 4th and final voyage of his life, he made it down to the Isthmus of Panama, but he never did find the East Indies, all those spices, gold etc. that he expected.

He returned back to Spain in 1504 only to have his patron Queen Isabella die a few weeks later. Without her, he basically was a pauper and as I said in the beginning, he died 2 years later in 1506 in poverty.

The first Columbus Day celebration took place in New York City in 1792, the 300th anniversary of Columbus' first voyage. But it took another 100 years before a national celebration was held in 1892. The Knights of Columbus, a Roman Catholic society for men (founded in 1882) petitioned state legislatures over and over to declare October 12 a legal holiday. It wasn't until 1901 that New York became the first state to make Columbus Day a holiday. For the 400th anniversary of Columbus' voyage, President Benjamin Harrison made a commemorative proclamation in 1892. In 1905, Colorado (not New York) became the first state to observe a Columbus Day. This means the entire State, not just a city. People get this confused. Since 1920 Columbus Day has been celebrated annually by communities, or states in some manner. Although President Franklin Roosevelt in 1937 proclaimed every October 12 as Columbus Day, well proclaiming a holiday and actually making it legitimate are two different things.

In 1968, President Lyndon Johnson signed a law making the second Monday in October a federal holiday to observe Columbus Day!

The celebration of Columbus Day is mostly popular in Italy and among Italian-American citizens in the United States....of course especially in New York City. Philadelphia also has made celebrating Columbus Day popular.

Spain, of course highly celebrates Columbus Day, especially where he launched his 3 ships: The Nina, The Pinta and The Santa Maria.

In Mexico, Columbus Day is part of their Dia de la Raza (Day of the Race) celebration.

The most common way Columbus Day is celebrated is with a parade where mostly Italian-Americans and Knights of Columbus members parade up the street. In New York, over 100,000 people march up 5th Avenue, along with local and state politicians. And some hotels host a Columbus Day dinner.

Boston also has a Columbus Day parade of smaller size around 8,000 people that march about 4 miles from the city's Back Bay area to the North End. Los Angeles and San Francisco have the largest parades on the West Coast. Many feel that the parade for Columbus Day is a reflection of the Italian religious processions of the Catholic religion.

Another way to celebrate Columbus Day is to reenact his first landing in the new world. Many seaside communities across the United States hold Columbus Day pageants and reenactments.

Many people feel that the idea to do the reenactment originates from the painting by John Vanderlyn called "The Landing of Columbus." This painting was commission for the U.S. Capitol rotunda in 1839 and was later reproduced on postage stamps.

Don't feel it was Columbus who should get credit for discovering America when he really landed in the Bahamas?

Read about Leif Erickson, who many feel is the real explorer who discovered North America

Leif Erickson - Norwegian Government

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