Happy Columbus Day.

[PATAX]

Happy Columbus Day, which is an official federal holiday. Banks, post offices, government offices, many businesses, etc will be closed in observance of Columbus Day. Christopher Columbus was a great visionary just like President George Washington, Alexander Graham Bell, Thomas Edison, Andrew Carnegie, Nikola Tesla, Albert Einstein, and Hunter Biden. Happy Columbus Day.

[BobKamman]

Can you name the three ships the monarchs of Spain (who also hated Muslims) gave Columbus so that he could find a faster route to India?  There used to be a replica of his flagship in the capital of Ohio.  Of course, where else?  I was lucky enough to see it before they took it apart and put it in storage in 2014.  They haven't put it back together because, well, people lost interest.  

Columbus was not Italian, because there was no Italy back then. After Columbus died in 1506, he was buried in Valladolid, Spain. Three years later his remains were taken to his family mausoleum, which was in Sevilla. In 1542, in accordance with the will of his son Diego, Columbus's remains were transferred to Santo Domingo, Hispaniola (now in the Dominican Republic).

It's always a good idea to shut down Congress for a day.  This year, even better, they did it for a week.  

[PATAX]

I used to know the names of the three ships but now I can only think of Santa Maria. Yes there was no Republic of Italy back then, but his descendants live in Italy I believe and consider themselves Italian. As far as his ancestry most believe that he was of Italian descent, but there are others who believe that he may have been of Sephardic descent, Greek descent, and/ or Spanish descent. People intermarried back then too so who knows. An Old Timer from Italy told me years ago that his real last name was Columbo and not Columbus.

[BobKamman]

Most historical accounts indicate that Colombo changed his name to Colón when he moved to Spain and became a citizen. The reasons remain unclear, although he most likely did it to make himself sound more Spanish, just as many European immigrants to the early United States anglicized their last names or changed them entirely. 

Cristóbal Colón de Carvajal y Gorosábel, 18th Duke of Veragua, 17th Duke of la Vega, 19th Marquess of Aguilafuente, 16th Marquess of Jamaica, 20th Admiral of the Ocean Sea, GE, OIC (born October 4, 1949) is a Spanish nobleman, businessman and formerly an officer, helicopter pilot, and commander of a naval vessel in the Spanish Navy. He is a direct descendant of Christopher Columbus by way of Christopher's son, Diego.

[Just-Lisa-Now-]

Nina, Pinta and the Santa Maria...all I remember are the names of the ships.

[IRonMaN]

Visionary?  He got lost trying to find a route to India.😜.  Besides, the Vikings already found this place long before Columbus.  Evidently someone decided we should create a Columbus Day rather than a Vikings Day out of fear they would be made to eat lutefisk.

[BobKamman]

And of course, the current debate is whether the people coming from the other direction arrived 16,000 years ago, or 21,000 years ago.  I have an idea.  Let's rename the holiday, after them!

[PATAX]

@IRonMaN your Viking cousins were the ones who got lost. If they hadn't, then they would have claimed this land for their Viking king, and we would be called the United States of Scandinavia.😉🤔

[IRonMaN]

They came, they saw, and they went home.  The Vikings preferred to loot and plunder from Europeans who had stuff that they liked.  The Native Americans lived too simple of a life so Lars and the crew sailed back home.  Besides, the Natives liked buffalo and fresh fish which didn't go well with lutefisk.

[sjrcpa]

12 or so states are calling today Indigenous Peoples Day.

[IRonMaN]

Minnesota is one of those 12.  Unfortunately for their sake, they didn't have the vision to "build a wall" to keep all of those nasty Europeans off their land 😉

[PATAX · Accepted solution]

@sjrcpa it will always be Columbus Day to me and many others. Period.

[sjrcpa]

@Just-Lisa-Now- 

“In fourteen hundred ninety-two

Columbus sailed the ocean blue”

Did you have to recite that?

[IRonMaN]

Who could forget those good old grade school days 😀