October 12
COLUMBUS DAY
In fourteen hundred and ninety-two, Columbus sailed the ocean blue. And on this day, with a crew of 90 and three ships, the Nina, the Pinta and the Santa Maria, he landed on Guanahani Island in the Bahamas. Italian born Christopher Columbus, sailing for Spain’s Queen Isabel, had been in search of a water passageway to Cathay. It was a long and dangerous journey across what Columbus called “shoreless seas,” so there was much jubilation when they saw land. Columbus renamed the island, San Salvador, and claimed it for the Spanish Crown.
An entry in his journal described meeting the natives of the island, “As I saw that they were friendly to us, and perceived that they could be much more easily converted to our holy faith by gentle means than by force, I presented them with some red caps, and strings of beads to wear upon the neck, and many other trifles of small value, wherewith they were much delighted and became wonderfully attached to us.”
And most people in Spanish-speaking countries and the Americas are still pretty much attached to Columbus, as they continue to celebrate this day as a holiday in his honor.
Those Were the Days, the Today in History service from 440 International
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