Columbus Day

The Spanish crown provided the sailor with three caravels: “Santa Maria”, “Nina”, and “Pinta” that were very small even for those times so crossing the ocean on them seemed as an incredibly brave idea. In addition, the ship crew was assembled from prisoners as no one else agreed to participate voluntarily in such a dangerous voyage.
All his life Columbus was quite sure that he was sailing to the east coast of Asia, although in fact, he was about 15 thousand kilometers (9320 miles) away from India! Can you imagine how wrong his initial calculations of the overall travel distance that they’ll cover was?
Before October 12, 1492, when the land near the present day Bahamas appeared on the horizon, 70 days of sailing had passed. However, the outlines of the coast were not the mainland, but a small island in the Caribbean Sea, which later became known as San Salvador and was the first Spanish colony ever to be established on the South American continent.
Moreover, because Columbus was more than positive that they've come to Eastern Asia somewhere near India, he called the natives who inhabited the lands of that time “Indians”.
All in all, Christopher Columbus undertook four voyages across the Atlantic, thinking that he was approaching the shores of India. During this time, he visited many islands of the Caribbean, including Haiti, Cuba, the Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, the Lesser Antilles, and Jamaica. Only during the third voyage, he reached the mainland shores of Central America, thus proving that there is a continent between the Atlantic Ocean and the South Sea.

Unfortunately, life played wicked games on Columbus and the great pioneer of the New World obtained no glory or wealth during the living. Columbus brought tobacco, sugar cane, crops such as corn, bird feathers, and wicker hammocks to Europe as well as entire new territories in honor of Spain from his expeditions but not a grain of Indian pepper for which everything was actually started.
Although Columbus had more voyages to the South American continent with conquistadors, the situation was aggravated by the fact that in 1498 a representative of competing Portugal, Vasco da Gama, reached actual India via the Atlantic route and brought back so many spices that the voyage paid off many times. The patience of the Spanish government ran out and they refused to give Columbus the promised titles or money.
One year after the death of Columbus, his companion, Amerigo Vespucci, announced the fact that America was not alleged Asia, but some new land so his name was given to the entire continent! Quite unfair, isn’t it?
As for Columbus himself, his name is immortalized in only one Latin American country, Colombia, known for its mafia; in the USA there’s the federal district of Columbia; and there’s the city of Colón in Panama.