“In fourteen hundred ninety-two Columbus sailed the ocean blue.” Thus begins a poem by Jean Marzollo. October 12th, 1492 is the date Columbus landed on Guanahani Island in the Bahamas, in the Western Hemisphere.
In Spain, Columbus Day is known as Día de la Hispanidad (Day of Hispanicity). In Spanish-speaking Latin American countries it was traditionally known as Día de la Raza, Day of the Race, referring to the Mestizo Race, produced by a fusion of Spaniards and Indians.
In recent years though, Columbus’ stock has been going down in both the U.S.A. and Latin America.
In 2020, then-President AMLO changed the name of the celebration in Mexico to Día de la Nación Pluricultural, “Day of the Multicultural Nation”.
But consider this: most Mexicans are of both Spanish and Indian ancestry. Therefore, if it weren’t for Columbus and Hernan Cortes and others, most Mexicans would not exist. As for the full-blood Indians and full-blood whites in Mexico, they most likely wouldn’t exist either, as they probably wouldn’t have had the same ancestors.
Columbus Day, October 12th, commemorates the day Christopher Columbus brought Western Civilization to the New World. All New World nation-states, including both Mexico and the United States, are results of that discovery in 1492.