Today we take for granted that the world is round. In the fifteenth
century, however, most people believed the world was flat. They thought
that monsters or a trip over the edge of the earth waited for anybody who
sailed outside the limits of known territory. People laughed at or jailed
others who dared think that the world was in the shape of a globe.
There were educated persons, however, who reasoned that the world must
be round. An Italian named Christopher Columbus was bold enough to push
this notion, and ask for money to explore the seas, and find what he
thought would be the other hemisphere of the earth. Portugal, Italy and
England refused to support such a venture.
At that time, spice merchants were looking for an easier route to Asia.
They travelled south past Africa, around the Cape of
Good Hope（好望角）, and continued eastward. Christopher Columbus
convinced Queen Isabella of Spain that it would be easier to sail directly
west and find the rich treasures of India and Asia. A new route would be
found, he said, and possible new lands for Spain.
Columbus first asked Queen Isabella for help in 1486, but it was years
before she agreed provided（如果） that he
conquer some of the islands and mainland for Spain. Columbus would also be
given the title of "Admiral of All the Ocean Seas," and receive one-tenth
of the riches that came from any of his discoveries.
Finally, on August 3, 1492, he and ninety men set sail on the flagship（旗舰） Santa Maria. Two other ships, the
Nina and the Pinta, came with him. They sailed west. Three long months
went by. His men became tired and sick, and threatened to turn the ships
back. Columbus encouraged them, certain that they would find the spice
trail to the East. On October 11th, ten o'clock at night, Columbus saw a
light. The Pinta kept sailing, and reported that the light was, in fact,
land. The next morning at dawn they landed.
 Christopher Columbus and his crew had expected to
see people native to India, or be taken to see the great leader
Khan（可汗）. They called the first people they saw "Indians." They had
gone ashore in their best clothes, knelt and praised God for arriving
safely. From the "Indians" they learned that the island was called
Guanahani. Columbus christened（命名） it San Salvador（圣萨尔瓦多） and claimed it immediately for
Spain. When they landed on the island that is now Cuba, they thought they
were in Japan. After three subsequent voyages, Columbus was still
unenlightened. He died a rich and famous man, but he never knew that he
discovered lands that few people had imagined were there.
Columbus had stopped at what are now the
Caribbean Islands（加勒比海群岛）, either Watling Island, Grand Turk
Island, or Samana Cay. In 1926, Watling Island was renamed San Salvador
and acknowledged as the first land in the New World. Recently, however,
some people have begun to dispute the claim. Three men from Miami, Florida
have started a movement to recognize Conception Island as the one that
Columbus and his men first sighted and landed on. The controversy has not
yet been resolve.
Few celebrations marked the discovery until
hundreds of years later. The continent was not even named after Columbus,
but an Italian explorer named Amerigo Vespucci. In 1792, a ceremony was
held in New York honoring Columbus, and a monument was dedicated to him.
Soon after that, the city of Washington was officially named the District
of Columbia and became the capital of the United States. In 1892, a statue
of Columbus was raised at the beginning of Columbus Avenue in New York
City. At the Columbian Exposition held in Chicago that year, replicas（复制品） of Columbus's three ships were
displayed.
Americans might not have a Columbus Day if Christopher Columbus had not
been born in Italy. Out of pride for their native son, the Italian
population of New York City organised the first celebration of the
discovery of America on October 12, 1866. The next year, more Italian
organisations in other cities held banquets, parades and dances on that
date. In 1869, when Italians of San Francisco celebrated October 12, they
called it Columbus Day.
In 1905, Colorado became the first state to observe a Columbus Day.
Over the next few decades other states followed. In 1937, then President
Franklin Roosevelt proclaimed every October 12 as Columbus Day. Since
1971, it has been celebrated on the second Monday in October.
Although it is generally accepted that Christopher Columbus was the
first European to have discovered the New World of the Americas, there is
still some controversy over this claim. Some researchers and proponents of
other explorers attribute the first sightings to the early Scandinavian Vikings（北欧海盗） or the voyages of Irish
missionaries（传教士） which
predate（早于） the Columbus visit in 1492. The controversy may never
be fully resolved to everyone's satisfaction, but 1992 marked the 500th
anniversary of the Columbus discovery.
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