Why Do We Celebrate Columbus Day

On October 12, 1492, Spanish explorer Christopher Columbus landed on a small island near the Caribbean, which he later named San Salvador. There, he was greeted by a group of indigenous people history now calls Arawaks. The Arawaks greeted Christopher Columbus with open arms and bore gifts. This day is now called Columbus Day. Columbus Day is celebrated as the day Columbus founded the Americas and opened the door for the settlement of America to Europeans. However, the true story behind how Christopher Columbus obtained the land and the price that came with it is not as clearly expressed as the first definition. The truth behind this matter is that Columbus was not the first person to discover the Americas. It is also because of Columbus that genocide, …show more content…
When Christopher Columbus arrived on the island, he was greeted by Arawaks thus, it can be concluded that the land was already inhabited by people before his arrival. Therefore, Columbus was not the first person to discover the Americas. In fact, he was not even the first European to this. The first European to set foot in the Americas that history has a record of is a Norse explorer called Leif Erikkson. More than 2,400 Viking items found in northwestern Newfoundland, Canada serve as conclusive proof that the Vikings had discovered North America about 500 years before Columbus did. This all leads up to the question: Why celebrate a holiday that has a false meaning? The purpose of Columbus Day was to celebrate Columbus’s discovery of the Americas. Now that there is historical evidence to show that he was not the first person to set foot on the Americas after the disappearance of the Berlin Strait, there is no reason to celebrate this holiday. In addition, the fact cannot be ignored that Columbus’ original intentions were to find a faster route to India and China by going around the tip of Africa. His goal was to be able to obtain cheaper spices to bring back