today’s holiday: Columbus Day

Columbus Day

When the Italian explorer Christopher Columbus (1451-1506) first landed in the Bahamas on October 12, 1492, he believed that he had reached the East Indies. Despite his error in judgment, Columbus is credited with opening the New World to European colonization, and the anniversary of his landing on the Bahamian island of San Salvador is commemorated in the US with parades, patriotic ceremonies, and pageants reenacting the historic landing. In 1991, Berkeley, California, cancelled Columbus Day in favor of Indigenous People’s Day. More… Discuss

This Day in the Yesteryear: CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS FIRST SIGHTS THE CARIBBEAN ISLAND OF DOMINICA (1493)

Christopher Columbus First Sights the Caribbean Island of Dominica (1493)

On the first Sunday in November 1493, Christopher Columbus spotted a mountainous island between Martinique and Guadeloupe in the Caribbean Sea. Ignoring the fact that its Carib inhabitants already had a name for the island, Columbus renamed it Dominica, the Latin name for the day of the week on which he spotted it. The Caribs managed to resist Spanish efforts to colonize the island but were unable to fend off the British and French. When did Dominica finally gain its independence? More…Discuss