Columbus Day

Columbus Day commemorates the landing of Christopher Columbus in the Americas in 1492, and Columbus Day 2020 is on Monday, October 12. ... For many, the holiday is a way of both honoring Columbus' achievements and celebrating Italian-American heritage. Christopher Columbus was an Italian explorer and colonizer on behalf of Spain, who set sail across the Atlantic Ocean in search of a faster route to the Far East only to land at the New World. His first voyage to the New World on the Spanish ships Santa María, Niña, and La Pinta took approximately three months. Columbus and his crew's arrival to the New World initiated the Columbian Exchange which introduced the transfer of plants, animals, culture, human populations, and technology (but also invasive species) between the New World and the Old World.