This Day In History, October 12th

Christopher Columbus (1451 – 1506) (Cristóbal Colón in Spanish, Cristòfor Colom in Catalan, Cristóvão Colombo in Portuguese) was an explorer and trader who crossed the Atlantic Ocean and reached the Americas on October 12, 1492 under the flag of Castilian Spain. The entire period of the history of the Americas before this date usually known as Pre-Columbian, and the anniversary of this event, Columbus Day celebrated in many countries in the Americas as well as Spain. Columbus believed that the Earth was a relatively small sphere, and argued that a ship could reach the Far East via a westward course. The widespread notion that Columbus encountered opposition based on the idea that the Earth was flat is a literary myth created by Washington Irving. Columbus landed in the Bahamas and later explored much of the Caribbean, including the isles of Juana (Cuba) and Espanola (Hispaniola), as well as the coasts of Central and South America, but he never reached the present-day United States. The latin american country Colombia is named ofter him, as well as the city of Clumbia in South Carolina in USA,. Source: Wikipedia Tags: History, Geography, Gr33n Data