Columbus Day

Columbus Day, the second Monday in October, is celebrated in the UnitedStates to honor Christopher Columbus’s first voyage to America in 1492. On thatvoyage Columbus encountered the islands that became known as the West Indies,in the Caribbean Sea. In April 1934, at the request of the Knights of Columbus,Congress and President Franklin D. Roosevelt set aside Columbus Day as afederal holiday. Actual observance of this day varies in different parts of the United States, ranging from large-scale parades and events to completenon-observance. Four states don’t recognize this day at all.

    The land of America was not named after Columbus, butwas named for Amerigo Vespucci, another Italian who explored the eastern coast of South America for Portugal after Columbus sailed for Spain. Vespucci proved that the land was not India, but a new continent. His claim led a German mapmaker to suggest in 1507 that the newly discovered world be called the “land of Americus”.