Originally celebrated in 1792, Columbus Day was made a national holiday by President Benjamin Harrison, who asked that the day be celebrated on the 400th anniversary of the event. Columbus Day has been celebrated annually on the second Monday of every October since 1920. This day was created in an attempt to celebrate the discovery of this great land, and to express our patriotism toward the United States of America. Most Americans to this day are raised with the belief that Columbus is a man worthy of praise for all that he has done for this country. However, what was originally intended to be a celebration of the brave men who originally set foot on this great nation, has now become a breeding ground for intense controversy. We celebrate a day dedicated to a man who encouraged racism and oppression and who committed the worst atrocity that can ever befall mankind: genocide.
The politically correct view is that Columbus did not discover America, because people had lived here for thousands of years. Some believe that the native inhabitants are Asiatic, and that they had originally discovered it. Furthermore, starting with Bjarni Herjolfsson in 986, there were several Norse expeditions to North America (Stannard, 46). However, Columbus's discovery, or re-discovery, was arguably the single most significant. This is because Columbus had set up permanent two-way commerce between Europe and the "New World." Many people also give Columbus praise for proving that the world really is round and not flat. However, by this time most people had already believed that the world was round, and those who didn't were the exception to the rule (Zinn, 2). The reasons that the Spanish monarchs let Columbus sail were mainly to search for spices and profits, and to spread Christianity. The reasons that Columbus wanted to sail were to receive the one-tenth of all profits, and the shared governance of the new lands with the Spanish monarchs.