October 12, time for celebration of Columbus Day and to commemorate the historic landing of Christopher Columbus in the Americas in 1492.

Columbus celebrations commemorate the Genoese explorer’s first expedition across the Atlantic Ocean in 1492.

Columbus, on commission by the Spanish monarchy, was hoping to find a new naval route to India and the other nations of the East, but instead found the American continent which was virtually unknown to Europeans at the time. Columbus’s sailor Rodrigo de Triana was the first on the voyage to spot land in the New World; he found the island the natives called Guanahani at approximately 2:00 AM on October 12, 1492.

The exact location of this island is unknown, though it was somewhere in the Bahamas. Columbus’s expedition launched the first large-scale European colonization of the Americas.

The first celebration of Columbus day was held in 1792, when New York City celebrated the 300th anniversary of his landing in the New World. In 1892, President Benjamin Harrison called upon the people of the United States to celebrate Columbus Day on the 400th anniversary of the event.

Columbus Day is also a great opportunity to have some fun with family and enjoy entertaining crafts and activities.