Happy Columbus Day (observed, it's really October 12.)
Columbus Day commemorates the discovery of the Americas in the Italian explorer's famed expedition to the West, in which he hoped to find a naval route to India. Instead, he found an entire continent that was mostly unknown to Europe, Africa, and Asia 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's 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. While controversy remains about many of the actions of the era, the colonization of the Americas is still seen largely as a good thing and thus worthy of celebrating.
The first Columbus Day celebration was held in 1792, when New York City celebrated the 300th anniversary of his landing in the New World. President Benjamin Harrison called upon the people of the United States to celebrate Columbus Day on the 400th anniversary of the event in 1892.
In 1937, at the behest of the Knights of Columbus (a Catholic fraternal service organization named for the voyager), President Franklin D. Roosevelt set aside Columbus Day as a federal holiday.
Since 1971, the holiday has been commemorated in the U.S. on the second Monday in October, the same day as Thanksgiving in Canada. It is generally observed today in some schools, some banks, the bond market, the U.S. Postal Service, federal offices, and most state government offices; however, most businesses and stock exchanges remain open.
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