Happy Columbus Day America!

Today is a terrific holiday that we celebrate here in America, but often does not get the notority that it desterves. This monumentous discovery of our great land is now celebrated on the second Monday in October.

Today we take for granted that the world is round. In the fifteenth century, however, most people believed the world was flat. It's hard to imagine now but, they thought that monsters or a trip over the edge of the earth waited for anybody who sailed outside the limits of known territory. People laughed at or even were jailed if they dared think that the world was in the shape of a globe.

There were educated persons who reasoned that the world must be round. An Italian named Christopher Columbus was bold enough to push this notion, and ask for money to explore the seas, and find what he thought would be the other hemisphere of the earth. Portugal, Italy and England refused to support such a venture.

Columbus first asked Queen Isabella for help in 1486, but it took many years before she would agree... provided that he conquer some of the islands and mainland for Spain. Finally, on August 3, 1492, Columbus' crew sailed on the Niña, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria. Columbus was looking for a faster route to the far east (Asia) in order to trade for valuable spices. Instead, he found North America, after sailing for five weeks.

On October 11th, ten o'clock at night, Columbus saw a light. The Pinta kept sailing, and reported that the light was, in fact, land. The next morning, October 12th, 1492, at dawn they landed.

Few celebrations marked the discovery until hundreds of years later. The continent was not even named after Columbus, but an Italian explorer named Amerigo Vespucci. In 1792, a ceremony was held in New York honoring Columbus, and a monument was dedicated to him. Soon after that, the city of Washington was officially named the District of Columbia and became the capital of the United States. In 1892, a statue of Columbus was raised at the beginning of Columbus Avenue in New York City. At the Columbian Exposition held in Chicago that year, replicas of Columbus's three ships were displayed.

Americans might not have a Columbus Day if Christopher Columbus had not been born in Italy. Out of pride for their native son, the Italian population of New York City organized the first celebration of the discovery of America on October 12, 1866. The next year, more Italian Organizations in other cities held banquets, parades and dances on that date. In 1869, when Italians of San Francisco celebrated October 12, they called it Columbus Day.

In 1905, Colorado became the first state to observe a Columbus Day. Over the next few decades other states followed. In 1937, then- President Franklin Roosevelt proclaimed every October 12 as Columbus Day. Since 1971, it has been celebrated on the second Monday in October.