Where are we?

Yesterday was the second Monday in October which is the day Americans celebrate Columbus the man who discovered America, or did he?

Here are some amazing and yet funny Columbus Day Facts:
1. Some say that Christopher Columbus never set foot on American foil, but in fact he did landed on a small island in the Bahamas. He named that island San Salvador and it was called Guanahani by the natives but the truth is it was never proved what island did Columbus set foot on first.

2. Although we all learned in school that Columbus had three famous ships: The Nina, Pinta and Santa Monica, the truth is that the only one that was true is The Pinta. The other two were Gallega (instead of Santa Maria) and Santa Clara (instead of the Nina). Why these names were invented, ask your teacher!

3. Although Columbus Day is celebrated as a patriotic day, many people think of this as a day of cruelty and slavery. That’s because the colonization of America included the death of millions of natives, the slavery of those who lived the lands before Columbus discovered it. Some call it the “Day of Indigenous Resistance” to honor the indigenous people that were killed by Columbus. The indigenous people were the Arawaks and they were either killed either enslaved to dig gold from the mines. Also, some say that the Arawaks were persecuted and Columbus treated them that way so they would not have to think, so he and his men would subjugate them. Between 1492 and 1508 more than 3 million people, natives, perished and by 1650 no Arawaks or any of their descendants remained alive.

4. Although you probably won’t hear this from your history teacher, many people say that Columbus was addicted to opium but that theory was never proven. Opium was the first drug to be used in those days, it is the substance used to create the today’s heroin.

5. Another not-so-good thing about Columbus: he and his men are said to have brought the syphilis back to Europe. And the truth is that Christopher Columbus wasn’t his real name. According to various experts, his true name was Crisstofa Corumbo and Christopher Columbus is the English translation of his name.