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Today is Columbus Day! BUT, what is it, and why are we celebrating it? Well try to explain with the help of History.com, but effectively, we are celebrating the fact that Christopher Columbus discovered Asia by landing in Cuba. Odd, but we like celebrating mistakes in America. They are very often the foundations for great things. Columbus Day is a U.S. holiday that commemorates the landing of Christopher Columbus in the Americas on October 12, 1492. Christopher Columbus was an Italian-born explorer who set sail in August 1492, bound for Asia with backing from the Spanish monarchs King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella. Columbus intended to chart a western sea route to China, India and the fabled gold and spice islands of Asia. Instead, he landed in the Bahamas, becoming the first European to explore the Americas since the Vikings established colonies in Greenland and Newfoundland during the 10th century. Later that October, Columbus sighted Cuba and believed it was mainland China; in December the expedition found Hispaniola, which he thought might be Japan. There, he established Spains first colony in the Americas with 39 of his men. In March 1493, Columbus returned to Spain in triumph, bearing gold, spices and Indian captives. The explorer crossed the Atlantic several more times before his death in 1506. It wasnt until his third journey that Columbus finally realized he hadnt reached Asia but instead had stumbled upon a continent previously unknown to Europeans. History.com OOPS! Third time is a charm!