Erikson, Vespucci more worthy than Columbus for holiday

To the editor:

Why do we still celebrate Columbus Day?

Historians have estimated that, during his four voyages to various Caribbean islands, Columbus was responsible for the deaths of between two million and eight million indigenous people, either by slaughtering them or by spreading diseases, such as smallpox and measles, to which they had no immunity.

Even if we choose to ignore the fact that he was a mass murderer, Columbus failed even as an explorer. He thought he landed in India. Although the Norwegian Viking Leif Erikson apparently did not realize he had reached a new world, I suggest we honor him rather than Columbus because he landed on what is now Newfoundland in around the year 1,000 and set up a colony there called Vinland.

Even better, I propose we celebrate Amerigo Vespucci Day rather than Columbus Day. When Vespucci, an Italian, reached what is now Brazil in 1501, he recognized it to be part of a previously unknown continent that he dubbed the “New World.”

It is time to say goodbye to Columbus Day. Stores could then have Erikson or Vespucci Day sales rather than Columbus Day sales.

Stan Greenberg