happy columbus day

Columbus Day is a holiday celebrating the anniversary of the October 12, 1492 arrival of Christopher Columbus to the Americas. Columbus Day commemorates the discovery of the Americas in Columbus'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.