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Columbus (sail here)

Why Columbus Day Courts Controversy
Christopher Columbus undoubtedly changed the world. But was it for the better?

Over 500 year after he "discovered" the New World—kicking off centuries of exploration and colonization of the Americas—Christopher Columbus is still honored with a federal holiday on the second Monday of every October. As historians have continued to dig into the life of Christopher Columbus, controversy has arisen over continuing to honor the Italian explorer as a hero.

On his first day in the New World, he ordered six of the natives to be seized, writing in his journal that he believed they would be good servants. Throughout his years in the New World, Columbus enacted policies of forced labor in which natives were put to work for the sake of profits. Later, Columbus sent thousands of peaceful Taino “Indians” from the island of Hispaniola to Spain to be sold. Many died en route.

Columbus ordered a brutal crackdown in which many natives were killed; in an attempt to deter further rebellion, Columbus ordered their dismembered bodies to be paraded through the streets.

Beginning in 1991, dozens of cities and a few states have adopted Indigenous Peoples’ Day, a holiday that celebrates the history and contributions of Native Americans—rather than Columbus.