Columbus Day

Replica of the Santa Maria with Columbus on deck, on display at the Edmonton Mall, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada (Vannoy photo)

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

Monday Oct. 14 is the federal holiday celebrating Columbus, who is given the honor of discovering North America in 1492. Although some people feel it should be celebrated as Indigenous Peoples Day, as they feel it was an invasion rather than a discovery. However, in Wyoming it is still celebrated as Columbus Day.

This year we are celebrating the 532th 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.

The voyage was not only long, but it was also dangerous. The Laramie Daily Boomerang, October 15, 1892 talks about Columbus’ three ships. –The Wonder to the Mariner of today is how the Navigator crossed the ocean in his little carvael, Spain is now in the midst of series fetes in commemoration of the discovery of America which will last till late in October. On the 3d of August, date of the sailing of Columbus from Palos, (Spain) the jubilation began, and of all the sights the exact reproduction of the flagship of Columbus, the Santa Marta, excited most amazement. Among the sailors in the vast gathering there was a loud chorus of astonishment and unbelief. Almost unanimously they declared that such a ship could not do the thing— it was impossible. It is indeed hard to believe that the little caravel of 240 tons at the outside could have made such a voyage, and when one compares it with the large sailing vessels of today he may well be incredulous.

With the achievements of steam and practical science we are tolerably familiar, but the fact that though sailing vessels antedate written history, the progress therein since 1492 is as great as in anything else, comes to one as a great surprise. Compare the little Santa Maria with, for instance, the magnificent Shenandoah, the American four masted bark and queen of all sailing vessels, which a few months ago went from San Francisco to Liverpool with 5,002 tons of wheat on board.

The Santa Maria might have been placed on the deck of the Shenandoah without adding perceptibly to her weight of cargo. She was a decked vessel, and while the Spanish historians do not deal in exact measurements, they are so minute in detail of her capacity that her size is known.

Captain Gustavus W. Fox, after a very careful calculation declares her length was “63 feet over all and 57 feet along her keel, with 20 feet beam and 10½ feed in depth.” Her crew consisted of fifty seamen, and in a list are found the names of one Englishman and one Irishman. Small as she was, her consorts, the Pinta and the Nina were considerably smaller, being mere barks, called carvels, but without  decks, unless the high prow and stern may be so called. In the  center such a vessel was open and in no respect superior to the fishing craft and other light coasting vessels of today. The men should have been willing to dare the passage of the stormy Atlantic in such a craft gives us a high idea of their courage.

The Casper Record, May 1914, talks about some of the sailors on the ships. – 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.

Castillo de San Marcos, St. Augustine, FL

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.

Castillo de San Marcos, St. Augustine, FL

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 in 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.

Several states celebrate Indigenous People’s Day, which 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.

But in Wyoming it is still Columbus Day. So happy Columbus Day everyone.

All photos by Cynthia Vannoy