Happy Columbus Day

Fourteen Hundred and Ninety-Two is a date most school children recognize.  It is when “Columbus sailed the Ocean Blue,” and discovered America.

Today, Columbus Day is a federal holiday in the United States. This year we are celebrating the 530th anniversary of Christopher Columbus’s arrival in the Americas on October 12, 1492, even though he did not set foot in North America. He landed in what is now the Bahamas and named his newly discovered island San Salvador.

From The Uintah Chieftain, (Evanston, Wyoming Territory) May 1882, it gives the history of how America got its name. 

 ….We can look back to-day, and fix the date in the not very distant past, that Christopher Columbus first beheld the island of San Salvador, or Saint Savior. It was on the 12th day of October 1492. Supposing he was in India, he called the inhabitants Indians. He then returned to his home in Spain

Amerigo Vespucci an explorer from Florence, visited the mainland in 1490, and gave the first published account of the discovery, from which the continent takes its name, America; but his claims as the discoverer are disallowed.

But, according to the Deaver Sentinel, July 1920: Columbus Entitled to Honor.  Columbus discovered part of the western continent on Oct.12, 1492, and therefore deserves the title, even though he did not see the mainland of America until 1498. John Cabot and his son, Sebastian, are considered the discoverers of the North American continent, having reached the coast of Labrador or Nova Scotia, June 24. 1497. Their voyage was inspired by the reports of Columbus’ discoveries, and to Columbus is given credit for being pioneer discoverer, though, of course, Columbus never saw the North American mainland.

Columbus was a born in Genoa in 1451.  He was an explorer who was chosen to lead a Spanish enterprise to cross the Atlantic in search of an alternative route to India and the Far East.  But the North American continent was in the way. Columbus’ first voyage with his three ships the Niña, the Pinta and the Santa María, took about three months.

Columbus’ arrival in the New World initiated the colonization of the Americas by Spain.  The oldest continuously occupied European city the contiguous United States is St. Augustine, Florida, founded in 1565 by Spanish explorers.

We see that Columbus Day was a national federal holiday in Wyoming as early as 1892. From The Sundance Reform, September 1892. Proclamation by the Governor, State of Wyoming, Executive Department. Whereas, in commemoration, of the four hundredth anniversary of the discovery of America by Columbus, congress has enacted a law designating Friday, October 21, 1892 as Columbus Day to be observed as a public holiday throughout the United States; and whereas, in accordance with this act of congress, the president of the United States has issued a proclamation recommending the observance of that day by public demonstration and by suitable exercises in our schools and other places of assembly throughout the land;  Now, therefore, I, Amos W. Barber, acting governor of the State of Wyoming, in accordance with the foregoing act of congress and proclamation by the president, and imbued with the patriotic spirit that has actuated the proposed commemoration of an event so far-reaching in its resulting happiness and prosperity among the millions of people who have found a haven within our shores, do hereby designate and recommend the observance of Friday, October 21, A. D. 1892, as a public holiday throughout the State of Wyoming. ln witness whereof, I have here unto set my hand and caused to be affixed the great seal of the State of Wyoming. Done at Cheyenne, the capital, this 7th day of September, A. D. 1892.   Amos W. Barber Secretary of State.

In observance of the day, Federal offices and banks are closed. The Lusk Standard, October 1919:  Columbus Day the local banks were closed Monday, the day being observed as a legal holiday in honor of Columbus, who, on October 12, 1492, discovered America, sailing from Spain with a few hardy spirits in three caravels. The 12th, being Sunday, the following day was observed.

The Casper Record, May 1914, talks about the nationalities of some of the sailors on the voyage. Columbus was an Italian. Among the officers and sailors there was a Jewish man named Luis do Torres, an Irishman named William Harris, and an Englishman by the of the name of Arthur Laws, or maybe Larkins. The rank and file of the men were Portuguese, Spanish and Italians.

And from The Sheridan Post, October 12, 1921: October 12 is the 429th anniversary of the discovery of America by Christopher Columbus. All over the world it is celebrated as Columbus Day. What Columbus sought was a short-cut route to India, by way of the westward ocean. What he discovered was more than a continent, it was a turning-point m civilization and government. When the fearless Italian navigator landed on the Island of Guanahani, West Indies, in the early morning of October 12, 1492, he opened the door of the land that made government by the people possible.

 Gold lured the early explorers of America. But it was refugees from European political oppression that built the foundations of the mighty civilization that has risen on the American continent. Individually, and as a nation, we owe a tremendous debt to Christopher Columbus. And let us not forget the queen who pawned her jewels to finance his venture into the uncharted Atlantic Ocean.

Today, Columbus Day is celebrated on the Monday closest to Oct. 12, thus giving workers a three-day holiday weekend.

Not all Americans celebrate Columbus Day, some consider it an invasion rather than a discovery. In many states it is now called Indigenous Peoples Day, which celebrates Native American peoples and their histories and cultures.

President Joe Biden formally recognized the holiday with a presidential proclamation declaring October 11, 2021, to be a national holiday. Some people feel that Columbus represents “the violent history of the colonization in the Western Hemisphere”, so they want to celebrate the Native American culture.

Several states celebrate Indigenous People’s Day, but in Wyoming it is still Columbus Day.  So happy Columbus Day everyone.