The Real Story of Columbus Day
On Friday, Donald Trump issued a proclamation announcing that the country would celebrate Columbus Day today – a fairly standard step for a president. But he also took the opportunity to speak out against those who in recent years have advocated for us to shift the focus of this annual holiday from celebrating the journey of the Italian explorer who brought Europe to America to commemorate millions of indigenous peoples. who were subsequently killed and driven out by centuries of colonialism. Trump is not a fan of this “revisionist” story (and here the “revisionist story” should be understood as “things that are 100% true, but for a long time America did not like to talk about them”). the proclamation reads: “These extremists seek to replace discussion of his vast contributions with talk of failure, his discoveries with atrocities, and his accomplishments with wrongdoing. Instead of learning from our history, this radical ideology and its adherents seek to revise it, strip it of all its glitter and mark it as initially sinister. “
Of course, one cannot dispute the fact that the United States would not have existed without the efforts of such colonialists as Christopher Columbus . It is also true that his world-changing achievements led to devastation for the people who were already here. Nevertheless, every year on the second Monday in October, the United States celebrates the anniversary of Columbus’s arrival in America on October 12, 1492. Despite the fact that he sailed to Spain, landed in the Caribbean and, according to historical records, was a real jerk. So why is it a holiday in the USA again? Is this person’s life worth celebrating? Let’s take a look at history.
Columbus, a Genoese explorer, sailed under the Spanish flag in hopes of colonizing the “new world.” After crossing the Atlantic in search of the legendary East Indies, which was certainly not an easy feat at the time, he landed on the island of Hispaniola (now Haiti and the Dominican Republic) instead of Japan or whatever part of Southeast Asia he intended. While there, he founded a colony, started the transatlantic slave trade, forced the locals to work in a gold mine or had their hands chopped off , most likely committed genocide against the Hispaniola natives (don’t worry, he served in prison), and did it in the name of Christianity. Oh, and he is also probably the reason the indigenous peoples were called “Indians” back then, and they are often called that to this day. Steadfast guy.
So why would the United States want to turn such a figure into a kind of national hero? Well, here are three reasons. First, despite his methods, he helped establish transatlantic trade routes that eventually led to even greater colonization, which ultimately led to the formation of our country. It’s hard to say for sure, but the world could have been very different if Columbus hadn’t succeeded. Second, several US presidents have strongly romanticized the myth of “Columbus discovering the New World,” including Ronald Reagan , Franklin D. Roosevelt, who instituted a federal holiday in 1937, and Benjamin Harrison, who in 1892 encouraged US citizens to celebrate 400th anniversary. …
Let’s be clear: Columbus did not “discover America.” People have already been here, and if you want to pay tribute to the European who made the discovery, then it must be the Viking explorer Leif Erickson (who defeated Columbus for several hundred years).
But finally, and most importantly, we are celebrating Columbus Day because – drum roll please – we hated the English! Remember how Columbus landed in the Caribbean rather than mainland North America? Well, there was another Venetian explorer named John Cabot – who made land on the mainland in 1497, “discovering” off the coast of North America for the first time since the 11th century. So why don’t we celebrate John Cabot Day every year? It’s simple – Cabot was sailing under the English flag.
Both Columbus and Cabot were minor characters in the story for hundreds of years after their death. But fast forward to the newly independent American colonies in 1776, and that all changed. As Brian Handwerk of Smithsonian Magazine explains , the American colonists needed a “heroic symbol” for their newborn nation. In hindsight, Cabot should have been the obvious choice – he landed where their new nation actually is, and he didn’t kill the natives in droves. In fact, he didn’t even make contact with them without getting “beyond crossbow range” when he landed. But, as Handwerk says, Cabot was sailing under an awkward flag. No one in the newly independent United States wanted to contact a researcher working for the British.
This is why Columbus has been celebrated in the United States since the late 18th century (there was a large 300th birthday celebration in 1792), and why it became a public holiday in Colorado in 1905 and then became a federal holiday in 1937. – and despite the president’s efforts – many cities now choose to celebrate Indigenous Peoples’ Day on the second Monday in October. More than 130 cities and eight states across the country choose this counter holiday that promotes Native American culture and history. How you decide to spend your day is up to you. This post was originally published in October 2017 and revised in October 2020 to reflect the new political context and the updated number of cities currently celebrating Indigenous Peoples Day.