Today is Columbus Day, so some of you have found yourself home with the kiddos. My daughter has really been enjoying learning about the explorers and actually began her long weekend by watching a little video about none other than Christopher Columbus.I am total history junkie and I love reading about holidays because you always learn something new! Here is a little trivia for today:
- Columbus presented his plan to sail West to reach China to both Portugal and England before Isabella and Ferdinand of Spain gave him their support.
- By 1492, most educated Europeans knew that the Earth was round. The ancient Greeks had already proved this.
- When Columbus discovered Hispaniola, he actually thought that the island could be Japan.
- By his third voyage, Columbus realized that he had not reached China.
- Columbus sent Queen Isabella 500 Native American slaves as a gift. She was abhorred and believed that as Spanish subjects, they could not be enslaved.
- Columbus' rule over the new colony was often brutal and he was brought back to Spain in chains. Yet, Ferdinand would still finance the explorer's final voyage.
- On his last voyage to the New World, Columbus made it all the way to Panama.
- Columbus' remains were moved several times until he reached his final resting place in Seville, Spain.
- President Franklin D. Roosevelt made Columbus Day an official national holiday in 1937.
- Columbus Day is not a public holiday in Alaska, California, Nevada and Hawaii.
- In Hawaii, the day is known as Landing Day or Discoverer's Day in honor of the state's Polynesian discoverers. South Dakota observes Native American Day while Berkley, California observes Indigenous People's Day.
Sources: History.com, Wikipedia, CBS News
The Northwest Florida Daily News
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