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# Columbus Day
- URL: https://www.foodconsumer.org/columbus_day_0710100741/
- Published: 2010-10-07T20:38:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-15T13:01:12.000Z
- Description: Roosevelt proclaimed the October 12 commemoration a national holiday in 1937, and Congress moved it to the second Monday in October in 1971 to create a long weekend. Federal offices and most banks close; schools and most businesses stay open.
- Author: Food Consumer
- Tags: Miscellaneous, Health News, #vivvo-import

[Columbus Day](http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/today/oct12.html?ref=foodconsumer.org) is the annual U.S. commemoration of Christopher Columbus's landing in the New World (at San Salvador Island in the Bahamas) on October 12, 1492\. Columbus was not the first European to successfully cross the Atlantic. Viking sailors are believed to have established a short-lived settlement in Newfoundland sometime in the 11th century, and scholars have argued for a number of other possible pre-Columbian landings. Columbus, however, initiated the lasting encounter between Europeans and the indigenous peoples of the Western Hemisphere.

A number of nations celebrate this encounter with annual holidays: Discovery Day in the Bahamas, Hispanic Day in Spain, and Dia de la Raza in much of Latin America. In the United States, Columbus Day is typically a celebration of Italian and Italian-American cultural heritage, Columbus generally being considered a native of Genoa, Italy. In 1937, [President Franklin D. Roosevelt](http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/presidents/franklindroosevelt/?ref=foodconsumer.org) proclaimed Columbus Day a national holiday to be held every October 12\. Then, in 1971, [Congress](http://answers.usa.gov/system/web/view/selfservice/templates/USAgov/egredirect.jsp?p%5Ffaq%5Fid=12023&ref=foodconsumer.org) moved the U.S. holiday from October 12 to the second Monday in October, to afford workers a long holiday weekend. U.S. federal government offices close on Columbus Day, as do most banks. Schools typically remain open, as do most American businesses.

**Additional Resources:**

- [Columbus Lesson Plan](http://edsitement.neh.gov/view%5Flesson%5Fplan.asp?id=257&ref=foodconsumer.org)
- [Christopher Columbus: Man and Myth](http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/1492/columbus.html?ref=foodconsumer.org)
- [H.I.P. Pocket Change - Columbus Day](http://www.usmint.gov/kids/coinNews/columbusDay.cfm?ref=foodconsumer.org)
- [Federal Holidays](http://answers.usa.gov/system/web/view/selfservice/templates/USAgov/egredirect.jsp?p%5Ffaq%5Fid=10053&ref=foodconsumer.org)

By usa.gov team