2. Columbus Day Second Monday of October

3. How The Holiday Originated  This holiday is celebrated on the second Monday of October. The Society of Tammany designated it a holiday on October 12, 1866. In 1937 Franklin Roosevelt proclaimed every twelfth of October as Columbus Day. Since 1971 it has been celebrated on the second Monday of October.

4. Symbols of Columbus Day People usually think of 3 ships as symbols because Columbus sailed three ships the Nina, Pinta, and the Santa Maria.

5. Celebrating Columbus Day People have parades in towns all over America.

6. Celebrating Columbus Day Con’t  Also during Columbus Day we have a day off from school. Government buildings are closed for the day.

7. Columbus’s Life Columbus was born in a coastal town of Genoa, Italy

8. Little is known about the early life of Columbus, but most scholars think that Columbus was born in Genoa, Italy, in 1451. Columbus was born near the sea and is probably why he wanted to be a sailor

9. While still a young man, Columbus became a sailor on merchant vessels sailing from Genoa.

10. When he was 25 years old, Columbus was shipwrecked off the coast of Portugal.

11. Fortunately, he landed close to Prince Henry's center for navigators. Columbus decided to stay for eight years

12. Columbus read books about geography, history, travel and studied maps.

13. He studied the charts of Portuguese sailors who had sailed to Africa's West Coast.

14. By 1484, Columbus had developed a daring plan to reach Asia by sailing west ! Sailing West To Get East

15. He calculated that sailing west from Spain to India would be approximately 4,000 miles long. (It was actually closer to 11,000 miles !) Spain India 11,000 miles Not 4000 miles

16. 1484, Columbus asked the Portuguese rulers to pay for his voyage. When they refused, Columbus turned to King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain. They rejected his idea at first, but finally, in 1492, agreed to pay for the trip.

17. On August 3, 1492, Columbus set sail from Palos, Spain, with three ships and 88 men.

18. After eight weeks at sea, the crew feared that they would never see land again. They were afraid that the strong east winds would prevent them from sailing back home. On September 24, Columbus made the following entry in his journal:

19. I am having trouble with the crew Complaining that they will never return home. They have said that it is insanity and suicidal on their parts to risk their lives following the madness of a foreigner [they were Spanish but Columbus was Italian] I am told by a few trusted men (and these are few in number!) that if I persist in going onward, the best course of action will be to throw me into the sea some night."

20. Columbus was being threatened by his men, but Columbus continued sailing west.

21. Two hours after midnight on October 12 ( two very long months after they set sail) land was sighted.

22. At dawn, the sailors went ashore. They named the new land San Salvador and claimed it for Spain. San Salvador is a small island in the Bahamas, which is located about 50 miles off the coast of Florida.

23. Columbus had thought he had landed on an island off the coast of Japan (which he called Chipango) or China (which he called Cathay).

24. Columbus also visited two other islands: Hispaniola, and Cuba, which he believed to be a part of China.

25. Excited about the lands and people he had discovered, Columbus began his homeward voyage in January 1493.

26. People knew within 30 years of his trip that Columbus had not discovered a westward route to India. But everyone has continued to call the natives of America "Indians" and the islands he reached the "West Indies."