Selected sections from Answers.com

Christopher Columbus sailed from Spain across the Atlantic Ocean in 1492, landing in the “new world” of the Americas and gaining lasting fame.  Using ships and money provided by Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castille, Columbus sailed west in search of a sea passage to India.  He had two goals: open trade routes for Spain and bring the word of Jesus…to the non-Christians he expected to meet. He sailed with three ships (the Niña, Pinta and Santa Maria) and on his first trip made landfall somewhere in the Bahamas.

He returned to Europe to spread the word, and was named “Admiral of the Ocean Seas” by Ferdinand and Isabella.  He made three more voyages in the following years, always believing that he had reached Asia, and his success opened the door for Spain to conquer the Americas.  Five centuries after his daring voyage, Columbus is still famous but is also the subject of heated discussions about whether he was a good-guy hero who discovered new worlds or a not-so-nice guy who helped grab the Americas from their native inhabitants.  Still, he has long been known as the man who “discovered” America, and the second Monday in October is celebrated as Columbus Day in the United States.

Of course, some liberal teachers across our great nation are celebrating in their usual way -romanticizing savages, and disparaging European Christians.

– Kids study dark side of Christopher Columbus

– Christopher Columbus A Bad Guy In Some Classrooms

In some States the entire holiday is just being removed from the calendar, renamed, or protested.