Why Do We Celebrate Columbus Day

Previously, Columbus was the “person who found the Americas,” but that is historically incorrect. We celebrate Columbus day as if he was a hero who saved mankind but he did the exact opposite. Zinn explains how much the Native Americans suffered and their perspective during Columbus's “discovery” of the Bahamas. We learn that because of his discovery, everyone was able to benefit from it but we never learn specifically how his actions affected the Arawaks.

     In the essay written by Jeffrey Hart entitled, “Discovering Columbus”, he argues strongly that, in fact, Columbus did discover America. He starts off by describing Columbus as “a genuine titan, a hero of history and of the human spirit.” He goes on to say

Christopher Columbus has been viewed as a hero for several centuries. Children in elementary schools all over the nation are taught that he discovered America. However, there were many other people who were indigenous to the land already and the Vikings arrived in America almost 500 years before Columbus. Christopher Columbus, as it turned out, was responsible for widespread genocide; he permitted his men to rape, murder, mutilate and enslave indigenous people. The evil deeds of Columbus far outweigh the few accomplishments he achieved. It doesn’t make sense for the United States to recognize this supposed Christian with a

“Let’s Take Back Columbus Day” is an article explaining why Americans should be proud of it’s beginning in history. It goes into great detail of how many years ago, Americans would patriotically celebrate Columbus day but modern Americans seem to be ashamed of celebrating such a holiday. In modern America, we’ve been taught that Columbus and his men brought havoc to the natives and destroyed the land. The article claims that such a view is offensive to America and it’s beginning because America was not the original source of slavery, racism, disease, and warfare; it was the cure for these things by using reason and developing individualism. All throughout history, humans seemed oblivious to the most obvious of concepts. Before the creation of ancient Greece, people believe in animistic spirits and gods that had the powers to control the natural world. For the people to get the favor of the gods, they performed sacrifices and rituals and prayed for the gods to show them the way. These mystic beliefs led to the downfalls of many societies, began epidemics of disease and poverty, and made

     The spirit and values of a nation are reflected in the nation’s heroes. Christopher Columbus has been regarded as an American hero since 1792. Every year Columbus Day is held on the second Monday in October to honor the man and his legacy. However, many people debate whether or not Columbus Day should be celebrated. I believe that Columbus Day should be celebrated in the United States because he opened up the New World to Europe, inspired a spirit of exploration and adventure that still lasts today, and he showed the importance of diversity and understanding of different cultures.

Columbus Day is a holiday widely celebrated throughout the Americas. It is a holiday commemorating the voyage, Christopher Columbus made for when he landed in the Bahamas on October 12, 1492. “Christopher Columbus was an Italian-born explorer who set sail in August 1492, bound for Asia with backing from the Spanish monarchs King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella.” His voyage was so successful that when he returned to Spain, he came with goods that the Europeans had never seen. The discovery of new merchandise brought about the Age of Exploration and in 1937, October 12th was officially named Columbus Day and nationally celebrated in the United States by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

After many centuries, a lot of controversy still surrounds Christopher Columbus. He remains to be a strange figure in history regarded as a famous explorer and a great mariner who made many discoveries in his days. Other people still regard him as a visionary and a national hero while others chose to remember him as a brutal and greedy person who used the rest of the humanity for his own selfish gains. Despite the fact that there have been protests in his being honored through a holiday referred to as the Columbus Day, he still deserves recognition and acknowledgement as a historical figure performed a great role in the making of the modern world.

According to Loewen they got his name right, and not much else. Lies points out that there were many groups of explorers that had "discovered" America before Columbus. He probably used some of their information as a basis for his plans to sail west. A full eight pages are devoted to other possible explorers. These groups include ancient groups from Indonesia, Japan, China, and Phoenicia. More recent groups include the Vikings, British Islanders, West Africans, and Portuguese fishermen. There are varying levels of evidence connecting these groups to pre-Columbian America, but still enough to throw doubt into the mix. Columbus got the credit because of the way in which Europe responded to his "discovery."

“In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue”, these words are taught all around the states and are meant to help teach and remember the year that the now notorious Christopher Columbus went on his renowned exploration. Columbus was an Italian that was sent by the Queen and King of Spain to find riches in other lands, and during this voyage he stumbled onto the Americas. During his time in the Americas he enslaved the Native Americans, forced Christianity onto them and brought over diseases that would result in the eventual deaths of Native American. For a long period of time though, Columbus was known as the “man who discovered America”, nothing more. Now he is thought of as a murderer and a thief for stealing the land and lives of many Native Americans.

Columbus Day is a holiday that celebrates Christopher Columbus an Italian explorer who sailed over 500 years ago with three ships from Spain across the Atlantic Ocean in a daring attempt to expand our knowledge of the known world in hopes of discovering new lands (Obama). He is credited with discovering the New World in 1492. Though this sounds honorable and inspiring, it was basically a search to find new lands in order to claim and take control of them, plunder their wealth, enslave their occupants and murder any who tried to stop him (Zinn). Since the United States is built on the beliefs of freedom, equality, peace, and humanity, I don’t feel that we should continue to honor and celebrate

In the beginning of October, millions of kids are relinquished from school to celebrate a holiday dedicated to one man: Christopher Columbus, a man perceived as a valiant hero credited for discovering America in 1492. Generations of Americans have passed down the belief that Columbus was an amazing explorer, but tend to overlook the horrific deeds that Columbus committed. Despite his monumental accomplishments, Columbus was a historical figure closer to Hitler than to Martin Luther King on the morality spectrum. Due to his use of slavery, treatment of Native American slaves, and the tricks he used to deceive others, Columbus was not a hero but rather a villain.

In 1492, Christopher Columbus sailed the ocean and discovered what we now know as the Americas… or so it’s been taught. In all actuality, there were already Native people who had been living in the continents for thousands of years. Since 1937, the US has used this “discovery” as a holiday known as Columbus Day to celebrate a man who established the beginning of colonization of the New World. While Columbus did begin the colonization of the Americas, he was not the one who discovered them. History tends to be told from the privileged perspective which is why it’s taught that Columbus discovered these lands. The celebration of Columbus Day promotes the idea of colonization and the marginalization of Native Americans; people also believe it

Columbus Day is being contested by Native American groups, stating that the indigenous tribes were inhabiting the land long before Columbus. Activist are opposed to the celebration, honoring a man who has cause oppression, disease, slavery and death among the Natives. In article hero of villain page 7, historian Alfred Cosby wrote of the havoc produced by diseases the Europeans brought to Native American. James Loewen book The Truth about Columbus later adding in Lies My Teacher Told Me wrote how Columbus was linked with the despoiling of ¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬natural environment.

Columbus Day marks the point in time which Christopher Columbus came to the “New World” in his quest of finding a shorter route to the Indies. On October 12, 1492, Christopher Columbus accidentally made history by being the first known European explorer to set foot in North America. Columbus paved the path of formation for our nation, and we should commemorate this achievement with a school vacation day. Christopher Columbus was a very brave man and was never afraid to go into uncharted territory. “During his lifetime, Columbus led a total of four expeditions to the New World, discovering various Caribbean islands, the Gulf of Mexico, and the South and Central American mainlands” ("Columbus Reaches the New World"). By accomplishing this, Columbus

Do you know why people celebrate the Columbus day and who start it? People establish celebrating the Columbus day because Christopher Columbus found the new land so king and queen of spain want to other people memorizing the Columbus’s goal. And in 1979, when is the 300th anniversary of the landing, United States start the celebrate the Columbus day in the New York City. Columbus day is historical holiday and people celebrate at the the second monday in october. Many people celebrate the holiday but some people disagree with the celebrate the Columbus day because Columbus was take the seed and gold from the Indigenous by something that is not peaceful way.