Excerpts from http://www.history.com/topics/columbus-day

   In America it's Columbus Day.

   In Mexico and several other Latin American countries, it's Dias de la Raza, or Day of the Race, a celebration of Hispanic culture's diverse roots.  

   Rather than being about the achievements of a single person, Christopher Columbus (who was actually Italian), it is seen as the day that gave Spanish language and culture an opportunity to expand and the start of the Hispanic cultures, mingling European and ethnic American heritage, that now exist all over Latin America.

   Like Columbus Day it is celebrated on October 12 or the nearest Monday to it, and it is a public holiday for schools and employees.  There are often parades held to honor the racial and cultural diversity of this and other countries, and some people like to have food from different national cuisines to celebrate as well.

   But this, as with Columbus Day, is not celebrated by everyone; many don't like celebrating an event that led to so much suffering and so many deaths during the centuries of colonization.

   Opposition to Columbus Day dates back to the 19th century, when anti-immigrant groups in the United States rejected the holiday because of its association with Catholicism. In recent decades, Native Americans and other groups have protested the celebration of an event that indirectly resulted in the colonization of the Americas and the death of millions.

   European settlers brought a host of infectious diseases, including smallpox and influenza, that decimated indigenous populations; warfare between Native Americans and the colonists claimed many lives as well.

   The image of Christopher Columbus as an intrepid hero has also been called into question. Upon arriving in the Bahamas, the explorer and his men forced the native peoples they found there into slavery; later, while serving as the governor of Hispaniola, he allegedly imposed barbaric forms of punishment, including torture.

   In 2002, Venezuela renamed the holiday Dìa de la Resistencia Indìgena (Day of Indigenous Resistance) to recognize native peoples and their experience. Several U.S. cities and states have replaced Columbus Day with alternative days of remembrance; examples include Berkeley's Indigenous Peoples Day, South Dakota's Native American Day and Hawaii's Discoverer's Day, which commemorates the arrival of Polynesian settlers.

   Various tribal governments in Oklahoma designate the day Native American Day, or name the day after their own tribe. The Navajo Nation replaced Columbus Day with Navajo Nation Sovereignty Day, which is observed on April 4.

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