Columbus Day is celebrated throughout many American countries and some European ones too; this holiday is celebrated at different dates throughout America and Europe.

In Spain, this national holiday is known as Hispanicity Day or National Day of Spain and is celebrated with a military parade that is attended by the king and other dignitaries, as a symbol of pride and joy that brings Cristopher Columbus  as he “discovered” the Americas under the reign of the Catholic monarchs: Queen Isabella I of Castile and King Ferdinand II of Aragon.

In the US, the holiday is mainly celebrated by Italian Americans as a symbol of their heritage and not of Columbus himself. Many American countries do not celebrate Columbus Day or at least changed the name of the holiday to commemorate something entirely different because they think the holiday itself celebrates the genocide of thousands of indigenous people by the hands of European colonizers.

For example, Mexico used to celebrate Columbus Day or Day of the Race until Mexico’s former president Lopez Obrador changed the name to Day of the Pluricultural Nation and removed the statue of Columbus located in the capital to a sculpture depicting an indigenous woman.

Argentina did the same when in 2010 they changed the Day of the Race to Day of the Respect of Cultural Diversity and removed their Columbus statue.

Colombia, Peru, Venezuela, El Salvador, Costa Rica, etc. also changed the name to something that has to do with indigenous resistance.

Columbus Day might have been important to European people, especially to Spain and Italy, but for the Americas this led to the genocide and “evangelization” of  the native people of these countries.