Today
we take for granted that the world is round. In the fifteenth
century, however, most people believed the world was flat.
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 jailed others who dared
think that the world was in the shape of a globe. There were
educated persons, however, 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.
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. |
