英语课程计划-Columbus Day（在线收听）

Columbus Day is a special holiday all across the Americas. Countries in North, Central and South America celebrate the anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the Americas on October the 12th, 1492. In the United States, the day is called Columbus Day; in many Latin American countries, it is known as Día de la Raza (Day of the Race). The day is also celebrated in Spain, where people call it National Day. These holidays are over two hundred years old and are a deep part of many cultures. Not everyone is happy about these celebrations. Most indigenous cultures all across the Americas recognize the day as the start of the erosion of their cultures. The day for them represents the invasion of their land by Europeans.

Christopher Columbus was an Italian adventurer who lived in the fifteenth century. He believed that the Earth was not flat, as most people thought at that time. He asked the Spanish queen, Isabelle, for financial help to sail around the world. He wanted to prove the Earth was round. He also believed there was a “new world” full of spices and treasures. At that time, he thought that new world, west of Italy, was India. On August 3, 1492, he sailed west on his ship the Santa Maria. After two months he found land and called it San Salvador. He thought it was India and the people he met were Indians. That’s why today, Caribbean islands are known as the West Indies and native Americans were called American Indians. The “New World” is today’s U.S.A.