His Accomplishments, His Holiday

He was called Cristofaro Colombo in Italian and Cristobal Colon in Spanish. Today, Ameri­cans call him Christopher Columbus. Worldwide, he's commonly called the discoverer of America. Some people might wonder why. After all, Columbus didn't set out in search of new continents, and he never realized that he had found any. Moreover, he wasn't the first European to set foot in the Western Hemisphere. Human skeletons with European characteristics-bones that may be 10,000 years old-have been found in North Amer­ica. About A.D. 1000, Vikings (Scandinavian sailors) probably reached the New World and lived for a while on the coast of North America. Historians also believe that, in the four­teenth century, Portuguese and English fishing boats crossed the Atlantic Ocean and landed in Newfoundland and Labrador. But these contacts didn't last long and didn't change anything. Only Columbus's voyages resulted in permanent links between the Eastern and Western Hemispheres and the widespread colonization of the Americas. Columbus's historic landing on an island in the Bahamas on October 12, 1492, was a turning point in world history.

In the U.S.A., this event is celebrated on Columbus Day, the second Monday in October. The holiday is also celebrated in Italy and in most Spanish-speaking countries. In some places, it's called Landing Day or Discovery Day. In many Latin American countries, it is called Dia de la Raza (Day of the Race). Columbus Day celebrations often involve pa­rades, patriotic speeches, and dramatizations of the landing.

In 1992, the year of the quincentennial celebration of Columbus's discovery, there were many debates about who should honor Columbus and even whether he should be honored. In Columbus and the Age of Discovery, the author (Zvi Dor-Ner) describes some of these disputes: "The Spaniards and the Italians argued over how to divide the na­tional honor. [Columbus was born in Genoa, which is now part of Italy, but Spanish money paid for his expeditions.] The Scandinavians contended that if any man should be honored for discovering America, it should be Eric the Red. [Eric the Red, from Nor­way, explored Greenland in the year 985. His son, Leif Ericson, was one of the first ex­plorers to visit mainland America.] The Third World countries insisted that there was no need to honor a rank colonialist. And the nations in the Caribbean basin resented the notion that they had been discovered at all. As the joke has it, they knew where they were; it was Columbus who was lost."

The consequences of Columbus's voyages were most tragic for the native peoples of the Americas. For them, Columbus Day is not a festive occasion but a day of mourning. As Europeans took over the New World, Native Americans lost their lives by the mil­lions. They died from European illnesses or were killed in battles with colonists. Those who survived were forced to live like prisoners in special areas called reservations. So today, when Americans honor the bravery and the genius of Columbus, they also re­member the pain that resulted from his ventures.

Check your comprehension.

Why do some people object to a holiday honoring Columbus?

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