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Columbus Day

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Contributed by: Lenny Ortiz on 10/5/2007

WHY?

Why do those of Italian decent celebrate Columbus Day? We all know that Columbus was born in Italy, however this is his only connection to the country. Columbus settled in Portugal at the age of twenty after a shipwreck. After many attempts to persuade Portugal's king to fund his ventures to the West Indies, he moved to Spain. The Spanish crown furnished the money to fund Columbus' West Indies adventure. On October 12, 1492, he landed in The New World near the current Bahamas. Columbus also traveled to Cuba and Haiti. Columbus made four trips to the New World, not once ever exploring anywhere close to the current United States. Vikings explored and landed in the same region, finding the indigenous people 400 years before Columbus. Why is it that decedents from the Vikings who are American's, do not have a holiday?

Conquistadors like Cortes and Pizarro commanded Spanish armies against the Aztec, Mayan and Inca's, which eventually wiped most of the indigenous nations of New Spain or current day Mexico. Current American Latinos have been known to side with the Native American to protest Columbus Day events. Why would anyone with a Spanish surname in the United States protest against or deny their heritage? It was the Spanish who invaded and murdered the indigenous people of Mexico. Mexican's since Spain's invasion speak Spanish and have taken Spanish family names. Many Mestizo's since the 1500's have traveled deep into the southwestern United States to include parts of Canada and Alaska. Spain gave up control in 1821 and Mexico lost control of most of the land in the current United States in 1848. There is little evidence that the Spanish or Mestizo's ever killed Native American's during their occupation of the American southwest.

There is a million cases that the European Anglo settlers who arrived in America murdered vast amounts of Native American's beginning with the founding of Jamestown up until the late19th Century. The United States government is responsible for the slaughter of the Native American due to many events like Westward Expansion. The government forcing the Indian onto reservations or offering small amounts for the land is the tragedy those of us who have Spanish surnames and have Mestizo blood should be protesting along with the Native American against the government, not Italian community or Columbus.

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CONTRIBUTOR INFORMATION

Lenny Ortiz

Wheat Ridge , CO

Lenny Ortiz has posted 22 stories and 12 comments since joining on 7/27/2006. Lenny Ortiz 's average story rating is 4.68.

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