by George Brosi
October 12, 2026
Why Columbus Day is celebrated in the United States is a good question. An Italian, financed by the Spanish monarchy, Columbus never set foot in what became the USA. As the first to plunder and exploit the land and people of the Western Hemisphere for the benefit of Europe, he set the precedent for future predatory expeditions and settlements. By forcing natives into slavery, he created an economy that led to African slavery even before the end of his last expedition. Significantly, the contemporaries of Columbus were the first to be offended by his cruelty.
The first Columbus expedition in 1492 and 1493 consisted of three ships. He left 39 Europeans in what would become Haiti on the island of Hispaniola to form a colony. Natives killed them all in retaliation for their forcing native women to live with them and native men to work for them.
His second voyage, from 1493 to 1496, included 17 ships and 1,500 men to fortify that colony. As Governor of Hispaniola, Columbus established a system requiring native people over the age of 14 to supply quotas of gold or cotton or labor every three months. Those who did not bring him enough gold were known to have their heads, hands, ears or noses cut off. He rounded up and enslaved roughly 1600 natives and loaded about 500 on his ships to take for sale as slaves in Spain. Approximately 200 died on the voyage. When Columbus presented the natives as slaves, Queen Isabella was furious. “What right had Columbus thus to dispose of my subjects?” she responded and ordered their immediate release and safe return
On his third trip, from 1498 to 1500 with six ships, he resumed his role as Governor of Hispaniola. In a letter, Columbus wrote of those who seized slaves from the native population, “there are plenty of dealers who go about looking for girls; those from nine to ten are now in demand, and for all ages a good price must be paid.” In 1500, Columbus was removed from power because of widespread complaints of brutal, tyrannical misrule and arbitrary executions of both settlers and native people. He was sent back to Spain in chains and was jailed.
In 1501, the Spanish Monarchy freed him, and in 1502 agreed to finance his fourth and last voyage of four ships that took place from then to 1504. The authorities in Hispaniola this time refused to allow him to dock there. Upon his return to Spain, he died in obscurity.
When Columbus first arrived in Hispaniola in 1492, it is estimated that the native population was perhaps more than a million. At the end of his final voyage, disease, forced labor, and violence had reduced their numbers to less than 60,000.
The results of the generational trauma inflicted upon Hispaniola by Columbus are evident even now in the countries of Haiti and the Dominican Republic which share the Island.
After the American Revolution, some who wanted the story of America to put less emphasis on the British, began to acknowledge Columbus as the one who “discovered” the Western Hemisphere. After anti-immigrant sentiment led to the lynching of 11 Italians in New Orleans in 1892, President Benjamin Harrison proclaimed the 400th Anniversary of Columbus’s arrival in the “New World” to be a one-time national holiday. It appeased outraged American Italians and the Italian government. Subsequently, cities with large populations of Italian immigrants declared it a continuing holiday. The Knights of Columbus and other Italian-American and Catholic groups lobbied hard for it to be a national holiday. They wanted to honor Italian heritage in the wake of the mistreatment that Italian immigrants faced. In 1934, Congress passed a joint resolution asking the president to annually proclaim October 12th to be Columbus Day. In 1937, amidst anti-Catholic sentiment and reprisals domestically and by the political right in Germany and the left in Spain, President Franklin Roosevelt proclaimed it to be an annual national observance. In 1968 when Lyndon Johnson was President, the Uniform Monday Holiday Law made all federal holidays three-day weekends. Columbus Day was added and became official starting in 1971. It is the only federal holiday to not result from its own Congressional debate and approval.
In 1977 a United Nations non-government organization Conference on Discrimination Against Indigenous Populations in the Americas was held in Geneva, Switzerland. Indigenous delegates from around the world resolved “to observe October 12, the day of so-called ‘discovery’ of America, as an International Day of Solidarity with the Indigenous Peoples of the Americas.” In response three countries renamed Columbus Day. Today, Italy, Spain and the United States are the only countries in the world to have a Columbus Day holiday.
In 1990, South Dakota became the first U. S. state to officially approve the change to Indigenous Peoples Day followed by twelve other states. In seven, governors have made proclamations to that effect. North Carolina has a tradition of governor proclamations each year, beginning with Governor Roy Cooper and continuing with Governor Josh Stein.
Beginning with Berkeley, California, in 1991, more than 130 city and county governments have passed legislation or proclamations to replace Columbus Day with Indigenous People’s Day, including Asheville. Black Mountain officially recognizes November as Indigenous Peoples Heritage Month. In Cherokee, tribal leaders issue public messages celebrating Indigenous People’s Day.
On October 9, 2025, President Donald Trump issued a proclamation that read, “Today our Nation honors the legendary Christopher Columbus — the original American hero, a giant of Western civilization, and one of the most gallant and visionary men to ever walk the face of the earth. This Columbus Day, we honor his life with reverence and gratitude, and we pledge to reclaim his extraordinary legacy of faith, courage, perseverance, and virtue from the left-wing arsonists who have sought to destroy his name and dishonor his memory.”