In 1937, Democrat President Franklin D. Roosevelt proclaimed Columbus Day a national federal holiday on the second Monday of October to celebrate Italian Americans and the courage of all citizens of the United States to seek opportunity. In 1492, Christopher Columbus sailed with 90 brave souls from Spain on the flagship Santa Maria accompanied by the Nina and Pinta into unknown waters of almost certain death for a dream to change the world.
Columbus was born in Genoa Italy in 1451 as the son of a wool weaver. He was fascinated by the tales of Marco Polo. With little formal education, he taught himself cartography and learned six languages apprenticing as a business agent for various families. It took years of failing to convince Portuguese heads of state to sponsor the impossible voyage until finally convincing Spain. Despite enormous hardships he began a new chapter in world history with an extraordinary tale of human triumph.
In 1942 by Jean Marzollo
In fourteen hundred ninety-two
Columbus sailed the ocean blue.
He had three ships and left from Spain;
He sailed through sunshine, wind and rain.
He sailed by night; he sailed by day;
He used the stars to find his way.
A compass also helped him know
How to find the way to go.
Ninety sailors were on board;
Some men worked while others snored.
Then the workers went to sleep;
And others watched the ocean deep.
Day after day they looked for land;
They dreamed of trees and rocks and sand.
October 12 their dream came true,
You never saw a happier crew!
“Indians! Indians!” Columbus cried;
His heart was filled with joyful pride.
But “India” the land was not;
It was the Bahamas, and it was hot.
The Arakawa natives were very nice;
They gave the sailors food and spice.
Columbus sailed on to find some gold
To bring back home, as he’d been told.
He made the trip again and again,
Trading gold to bring to Spain.
The first American? No, not quite.
But Columbus was brave, and he was bright.Facts
- 6% of the American population or 15.7 million are Italian, less than any minority except Native American at 2.09% or 6.7 million.
- Starting in the 700’s AD, both Italy and Sicily were raped and plundered by conquering Muslim black Moors accounting for the olive skin of many Italians, as well as over 10M white Christians taken as slaves to North Africa for nearly 6 centuries.
- Columbus’ family were likely immigrants and picked the family name since no bloodline can be accurately traced.
- Many of the Caribbean names like Cuba and surrounding geography are named in similar fashion to Cuba, Portugal and surrounding cities.
- Hispanic people are a mix of native Americans and Spanish settlers.
- Christopher Columbus was born in 1451 in Genoa, Italy. He began sailing when he was only 15 years old.
- When he set sail for the expedition, he was given three ships by the city of Palos.
- He set sail in August of 1492. It was 35 days before a sailor spotted land.
- The names of the three ships were the Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria.
- His crew consisted of 90 men.
- The goal of the expedition was to chart a western sea route to India and China, as well as to the islands in Asia with spices and gold.
- When Christopher Columbus landed in the Bahamas in 1492, he was the first European since the 10th century to have the opportunity to explore the Americas.
- The Santa Maria did not make the return trip to Spain because it ran aground on Christmas Day. 40 men had to stay behind because there was no room on the other two ships. They stayed behind on the island Hispaniola.
- Christopher Columbus made the voyage to the New World three times.
- He died when he was 55, in 1506, only two years after his last trip to the New World.
- Nobody is sure where he is buried as he was reburied many times in different places around the world.
- Nobody is sure what he looked like, as there are no portraits known to exist.
- President Roosevelt made Columbus Day a national holiday in 1934.
- In 1971, the date October 12th no longer marked the holiday. It was changed to the second Monday in October.
- South Dakota, Alaska and Hawaii do not recognize Columbus Day.
- In Latin America they call this day Día de la Raza; in the Bahamas they call it Discovery Day; in Spain they call it Fiesta Nacional and Día de la Hispanidad; in Argentina they call it Día del Respeto a la Diversidad Cultural; in Belize they call it Day of the Americas, and in Uruguay they call it Day of the Americas.
- In Puerto Rico, Columbus Day is celebrated along with Puerto Rico Friendship Day.
- In Virginia, Columbus Day is celebrated along with Yorktown Victory Day.
- Because Christopher Columbus was Italian, Italian-Americans celebrate Columbus Day as a celebration of their heritage.
- Depending on where you live in the United States, you may see parades to celebrate the holiday. In most states, the children have the day off school.
- New York City has the largest parade.
Controversy
The United States is the only Democratic Constitutional Republic in the world. Because of distance, geography, and independent population, it is impossible for enemies to invade. However, if you could destroy the past and poison the minds of youth against our origins, then you could enslave the world’s most diverse group of people and steal their wealth by separating them by guilt and victimhood with the false promise of free everything.
Like most heroes, Columbus was a man with flaws who knew little of politics and nothing of managing territory with all the associated challenges. Progressive Socialists mock achievements of the West and hate Christianity. The popular completely false narrative is that Columbus was a satanic rich white conqueror with insane arrogance that bumbled into a discovery already claimed by others only to commit genocide on the natives and start the African slave trade.
It’s easy to look back 500 years and calculate current distances. Many foolishly don’t consider translations used third person and added words like slavery, not Columbus. Columbus was known for good treatment of the natives and most of the native population died of epidemics much like the Black Plague that decimated millions in Europe. The African slave trade began long after Columbus was dead.
Native Americans Deserve Their Own Day
I grew up in rural Oklahoma. Most of the nation much less the world doesn’t know that it means “Land of the Red Man”. There are many more native people than the 5 Civilized Tribes that were forced from their lands to Oklahoma on the death march of the “Trail of Tears” by Democrat President Andrew Jackson. Each tribe has its own noble history with unique language and accomplishments. Today in Oklahoma, native tribes are thriving with some of the most industrious enterprises in the world while giving back and investing in their communities.
Yet Indigenous People’s Day was created by John Curl, a Progressive white academic from Berkley, California in 1992. The city of Berkley claims to be known for diversity and political activism but has virtually no ethnic population and is actually most known for water polo. Curl had written a historic fictional novel villainizing Christopher Columbus and was upset when Republican President Ronald Regan was going to have replicas of Columbus’ three ships sail along the East Coast and then over to California.
In common Progressive irony, Curl decided to re-write history based upon a faux moral outrage teaching hatred and victimhood to claim political power over Native Americans. Since the mid 1990’s liberal professors across the country have written countless whimsical articles about their accomplishment of Indigenous Peoples Day and their supposed creation of a Red Power movement. Meanwhile, Native Americans are now telling their own story of courage and memorializing their heroes.
Celebration
Unless you’re Italian or there is a parade, Columbus Day is largely ignored except the banks and post offices are closed. Schools are often closed too but it’s cloaked by Fall Break. Virtually every great discovery was by accident and always pointed out by the envious that have achieved nothing. Avoid the political motives of Wikipedia or History.com and do your own research taking into account the translation. Know that most of us would not have the lives we have today without Columbus – and could you have dreamed of such a voyage, much less recorded the tale so others could follow?