Hayden Kered Posted October 13, 2008 Share Posted October 13, 2008 Today is Columbus Day, celebrating the time when Christopher Columbus arrived in the Americas. Columbus celebrations commemorate the Genoese explorer's first expedition across the Atlantic Ocean in 1492. Columbus, on commission by the Spanish monarchy, was hoping to find a new naval route to India and the other nations of the East, but instead found the American continent which was virtually unknown to Europeans at the time. Columbus's sailor Rodrigo de Triana was the first on the voyage to spot land in the New World; he found the island the natives called Guanahani at approximately 2:00 AM on October 12, 1492. The exact location of this island is unknown, though it was somewhere in the Bahamas. Columbus's expedition launched the first large-scale European colonization of the Americas. United States observance The first Columbus Day celebration was held in 1792, when New York City celebrated the 300th anniversary of his landing in the New World. In 1892, President Benjamin Harrison called upon the people of the United States to celebrate Columbus Day on the 400th anniversary of the event. Some Italian-Americans observe Columbus Day as a celebration of their heritage, the first occasion being in New York City on October 12, 1866.[1][2] Columbus Day was popularized as a holiday in the United States by a lawyer, a son of Genoese immigrants who came to California. During the 1850s, Genoese immigrants settled and built ranches along the Sierra Nevada foothills. As the gold ran out, these skilled "Cal-Italians", from the Apennines, were able to prosper as self-sufficient farmers in the Mediterranean climate of Northern California. San Francisco has the second oldest Columbus Day celebration, with Italians having commemorated it there since 1869. This lawyer then moved to Colorado, which had a population of Genoese miners, and where, in 1907, the first state-wide celebration was held. In 1934, at the behest of the Knights of Columbus (a Catholic fraternal service organization named for the voyager), Congress and President Franklin Delano Roosevelt set aside Columbus Day, October 12, as a Federal holiday (36 USC 107, ch. 184, 48 Stat. 657). Since 1971, the holiday has been commemorated in the U.S. on the second Monday in October, the same day as Thanksgiving in neighboring Canada. It is generally observed today by banks, the bond market, the U.S. Postal Service and other federal agencies, most state government offices, and many school districts; however, most businesses and stock exchanges remain open. source>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbus_day Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jrrtoken Posted October 13, 2008 Share Posted October 13, 2008 Hooray for the conquest of Hispaniola and the eventual doom of all American natives! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adamqd Posted October 13, 2008 Share Posted October 13, 2008 I may be European but I aint Spanish, yay for 'England gets a day off from international hate day' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sabretooth Posted October 13, 2008 Share Posted October 13, 2008 LEIF ERIKSSON IS UNIMPRESSED. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soogz Posted October 13, 2008 Share Posted October 13, 2008 Hooray for the get the day off from school... day... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LordOfTheFish Posted October 13, 2008 Share Posted October 13, 2008 In 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jrrtoken Posted October 13, 2008 Share Posted October 13, 2008 QUETZALCOATL IS UNIMPRESSED. Fixed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inyri Posted October 13, 2008 Share Posted October 13, 2008 lol Columbus. What a reject. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EnderWiggin Posted October 13, 2008 Share Posted October 13, 2008 lol Columbus. What a reject. QFE. _EW_ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeDoe 2.0 Posted October 13, 2008 Share Posted October 13, 2008 Happy Erroneous secret route to India day! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Posted October 13, 2008 Share Posted October 13, 2008 Give Columbus a break. Cartography is HARD! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jrrtoken Posted October 13, 2008 Share Posted October 13, 2008 Give Columbus a break. Cartography is HARD! Killing Taino is hard too, but to each his own. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Achilles Posted October 14, 2008 Share Posted October 14, 2008 LEIF ERIKSSON IS UNIMPRESSED.QFT! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Litofsky Posted October 14, 2008 Share Posted October 14, 2008 LEIF ERIKSSON IS UNIMPRESSED. QFT, indeed. More credit to the Vikings, says I! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rev7 Posted October 14, 2008 Share Posted October 14, 2008 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedHawke Posted October 14, 2008 Share Posted October 14, 2008 LEIF ERIKSSON IS UNIMPRESSED. This post wins... thread over! Not to mention the whole Columbus story is suspect... which I love how comedian Robert Wuhl tore it apart in Assume the Position. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shem Posted October 14, 2008 Share Posted October 14, 2008 I hope everybody enjoyed their Columbus Day! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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