Christopher Columbus Day was created to celebrate Columbus’ proclaimed discovery of the New World (the Americas). The problem being he wasn’t actually the first person to be there, he didn’t even set foot on North America!!! In fact about the latter, he on later trips went to the coast of South and Central America but not North America. He wasn’t even the first European there, that credit goes to Leif Erikson, History.com reads: “Half a millennium before Columbus ‘discovered’ America, those Viking feet may have been the first European ones to ever have touched North American soil.” Columbus was cruel to the natives enslaving and attacking them, in fact, history.com: columbus-day-controversy   states “Columbus sent thousands of peaceful Taino “Indians” from the island of Hispaniola to Spain to be sold. Many died en route.” This just one example of his cruelty, another being how according to History.com’s article on his controversy’s he was a dictator to the now Dominican Republic, he once ordered a crackdown to discourage rebellion. These series of controversies really make you question whether or not Columbus Day should be celebrated, many believe it should be replaced with Indigenous People Day. I believe that it should be replaced by Indigenous People Day to celebrate ancestors and learn more about the Native Americans and their accomplishment. Some also believe he should be removed from the education system entirely, which I actually disagree with. He should be shown for all the things he has done, and dispel all of the myths around his journey, such as clarifying he wasn’t even the first one there or the 1st European there in the first place. Check out our other holiday articles such as our article on Halloween and our our article on Thanksgiving.

Credits: https://www.history.com/news/the-viking-explorer-who-beat-columbus-to-america; https://www.history.com/news/columbus-day-controversy; https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2013/10/14/christopher-columbus-3-things-you-think-he-did-that-he-didnt/