This is Columbus Day, the second Monday in October, in the United States. It is a federal holiday. That means most federal offices are closed.
The holiday honors the first visit to America by the Italian explorer Christopher Columbus. Columbus thought he could reach the Far East by sailing west across the Atlantic Ocean from Europe.
He was right. But he was also wrong. He thought the world was much smaller than it is. He did not imagine that another continent and another huge ocean lay between Europe and East Asia.
Columbus and his crew arrived in October 1492 on an island they called San Salvador, in today’s Bahamas. They explored that island and nearby islands now known as Cuba and Hispaniola.
Columbus believed these were the coastal islands of East Asia, then called the Indies. That is why he called the people who lived on the islands “Indians.” He refused to accept he was wrong about the geography.
