Showing posts with label discovery. Show all posts
Showing posts with label discovery. Show all posts

Monday, October 11, 2010

Columbus Day 2010

America got its name from Amerigo Vespucci (Italian explorer, 1454-1512), but we have no Vespucci holiday in this country. Instead we have Columbus Day, named after Christopher Columbus (Ital. Cristoforo Colombo , Span. Cristóbal Colón ), another Italian explorer (1451-1506).

Juan Ponce de León (1475-1521) was, historical data tell us, the first European explorer to set foot on the U.S. mainland (April 2, 1513, somewhere in Florida). We don’t have a holiday for him, either.

Happy Columbus Day!