Saturday, September 25, 2004
Columbus Day
Christopher Columbus is the Italian explorer, who under the Spanish flag, discovered the Americas. Columbus was a chartmaker; because of this he became convinced that the world is spherical, round, instead of flat. This belief later became the basis for his quest of finding a shorter route to Asia. Columbus’s wanted to find a short trade route to Asia. He was correct in his assumption of the earth being round, but he had no idea there was this large mass of two continents blocking his path. The first recorded celebration of Columbus Day in the United States took place on October 12, 1792. Starting in 1971, Columbus Day was designated a federal holiday as the second Monday in October.
