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If Columbus Didn't Discover America, Which Of These Five Groups Did?
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The second Monday in October, Columbus Day, is a holiday for people in some states but not in others. It is a federal holiday so government workers have the day off. It received federal holiday status in 1934 to celebrate the day that Christopher Columbus discovered America. Historians set that date on October 12, 1492. Over the last several decades, historians have found that one or more other groups probably reached America before Columbus did. At least five others may have, and the dispute about which was first continues year after year.
Among the primary reasons to dispute the claim that Columbus discovered America is that he never landed anywhere in North or South American at all. His ships reached several islands in what is now known as the Bahamas. That would make his real discovery a small group of islands.
The major dispute, however, is that Columbus reached land in the region, be it North America, South America or a group of islands, much later than other groups. At least five may have gotten to the Americas before him.
Who discovered America? The dispute has not been settled by even the most expert archaeologists, and probably won’t be.
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