Colmbus Day - An Insult

I don't understand how this country celebrates Columbus Day with all of the catastrophe that is associated with this so called discovery. First of all he is not the first European to even come to this land, The New World, Leif Ericson touched this land and built settlements here almost 500 years before Columbus. I guess because Leif didn't run back to Europe with the idea of getting the support to develop this new land, he does not get the credit. It appears as though Leif was amazed by the beauty of this new land and its people and possibly wanted to preserve as oppose to destroy, under the disguise of Christianity and Colonization.

When safe land passage to China and India became difficult, Columbus was merely trying to find a shorter passage between these countries by sea. This was all in a time when it was believed that the earth was flat.

On his first voyage, three large ships departed in August of 1492 and on Oct 12, 1492 they spotted land, which is now known as The Bahamas. Columbus called the island San Salvador, but the natives called it Guanahani. So why did he rename it, this was an established and cultivated land with human inhabitants before he got there. So who gave him the right? Well that is the questions that will be asked for many years to come in reference to the many things done by Europeans in the name of Christianity and Colonization. Before leaving this island, Columbus left 39 of his men behind to settle an area that is now known as Haiti, and captured up to 25 natives, most of which died before reaching Spain. Therefore if he was the founder of anything it was enslavement.

We may as well celebrate the pirates of The White Lion, the first ship to bring Africans to North America, specifically Jamestown, Virginia. The Africans were pirated from the slave ship, St. John the Baptist, while sailing in the Gulf of Mexico. It was headed to Vera Cruz in Spanish America.

So what are we celebrating?