Columbus Day; a Day Honoring Christopher Columbus

Columbus Day is a holiday in honor of the Italian Explorer who is credited for discovering America. In reality, Christopher Columbus was the first European since the Viking Leif Ericsson to set foot on the mainland of America. Leiv Eiriksson was a Norse explorer who is regarded as the first European to land in North America, nearly 500 years before Christopher Columbus’s first expedition landing in the Carribean.

Christopher Columbus was born in the year 1451 and sailed across the Atlantic Ocean in 1492, hoping to find a trade route to India for spices. He made a total of four trips to the Caribbean and South America between the years 1492 and 1504.

On his first trip, Columbus led an expedition with three ships, the Niña which was captained by Vicente Yáñez Pinzon, the Pinta, owned and captained by Martin Alonzo Pinzon, and the Santa Maria which was the ship that was captained by Columbus. They set sail on Aug. 3, 1492 from Palos, Spain, and on October 11, 1492, spotted the Caribbean islands off southeastern North America. They landed on an island that Columbus later named San Salvador.

While exploring the islands in the area and looking for gold to loot, Columbus’ men traveled to the islands of Hispaniola, which currently are divided into Haiti and the Dominican Republic, Cuba, and many other smaller islands. On the return trip, the Santa Maria was wrecked and the captain of the Pinta sailed off on his own to try to beat Columbus back. Columbus returned to Spain on March 15, 1493 in the Nina.

On a second, larger expedition that lasted three years, he sailed with 17 ships and 1,200 to 1,500 men to find gold and capture Indians as slaves in the Indies. Columbus established a base in Hispaniola and sailed around Hispaniola and along the length of southern Cuba. He spotted and named the island of Dominica on November 3, 1493.

On a third expedition in 1498, Columbus sailed farther south, to Trinidad and Venezuela.

On his fourth and last expedition setting sail in 1502 and returning in 1504, Columbus sailed to Mexico, Honduras and Panama (in Central America) and Santiago (Jamaica).

Columbus died in 1506 and is buried in eastern Hispaniola, which is currently known as the Dominican Republic.