Columbus Day: Should it Remain a Holiday?

To most, Columbus Day is just another holiday that is cause for another anticipated long weekend and break from school, work, or other responsibilities. Many people know little behind the man behind the holiday. Some just remember the grade school rhyme "Columbus sailed the ocean blue in fourteen-hundred ninety-two". Others attribute the discovery of the New World to him. Whatever your views are, you must realize the controversy surrounding the man. While many support keeping the holiday, others are staunch opponents. Following is an article by Associated Content that might open your eyes to the other side of the highly celebrated Christopher Columbus:







Columbus Day has long been celebrated as the day that Christopher Columbus discovered the Americas. It is officially celebrated in the United States and many other countries as well including, Spain,

Costa Rica and the Bahamas. Columbus Day as a holiday or celebration has now become somewhat controversial to many people. As researchers and historians continue in their studies significant facts have been brought to light that cause questions of the heroics of Christopher Columbus.

The first part of the controversy involves whether Columbus "discovered" the Americas. Columbus is recorded as landing in The New World in 1492. It was believed that he was the first European to sail across the Atlantic and land on the continent. What is a fact is that Leif Ericson, a Norseman or Viking, has been proven to arrive on the North American continent sometime around 1000 A.D. almost 500 years before Columbus.

Another issue in this controversy is that Christopher Columbus never actually landed on the continent itself. According to records he landed on an Caribbean island. By his fourth voyage logs indicate that he had been to the Bahamas, Jamaica, Haiti, Cuba, Nicaragua and Panama. He never arrived in North America.

Finally, in the "discovery" part of the controversy, the areas that Columbus explored were already well populated by indigenous people. While Neil Armstrong was the first man to set foot on the moon, and we have no knowledge of human population, he did not discover it. The moon was already there. The areas that Columbus "discovered" were already long in existence and populated.

The next part of the controversy surrounding Columbus day is whether or not he can be seen as a hero. Columbus's main intention for his travels was to find wealth and riches. He did not need to prove the world was round. Educated people of the time already knew it was. Columbus, and the crews that sailed with him, treated the indigenous peoples they encountered as obstacles to their mission of conquering new worlds and finding riches to take back with them to their homeland. Thousands of peaceful inhabitants were sent to Spain and sold into slavery. Many of the inhabitants that were not sent were forced to work for Columbus and his crews or were put to death.

Also to be noted is that the arrival of Columbus and his crews introduced many new diseases to the existing populations that they had no defenses to. It is suspected, but not proven, that the crews of Columbus may have introduced what is now known as Syphilis when they returned from their journeys. While strains of the bacteria existed previously it is believed that they mutated because of his travels.

Columbus Day will continue to be celebrated in the U.S. and other countries. What is in question is Columbus's "discovery" and whether or not he can be regarded heroically. More answers may be found as researchers continue in their investigations but most likely the view of Columbus is left to the viewer and how Columbus's journeys are taught in schools.





http://www.mnc.net/norway/LeifErikson.htm

http://www.enchantedlearning.com/explorers/indexe.shtml

http://www.livescience.com/history/080114-syphilis-columbus.html

http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2004/11/11/1235290.htm

http://www.history.com/content/columbusday/about-columbushttp://www.history.com/content/columbusday/controversy



(The picture of Columbus is from http://www.inkart.com/images/lineart/Columbus.jpg)