Christopher Columbus conquered. He permitted his soldiers to rape, kill, and enslave thousands of indigenous people in the Americas. Bartolome de las Casas, a young Catholic priest who participated in the conquests led by Columbus, recounted one of the many genocidal missions -- the conquest of Hispaniola:
"...there were 60,000 people living on this island, including the Indians; so that from 1494 to 1508, over three million people had perished from war, slavery, and the mines. Who in future generations will believe this? I myself writing it as a knowledgeable eyewitness can hardly believe it….”
The arrival of Columbus to the Western Hemisphere marked a beginning of the death of native cultures, histories, and peoples. That beginning does not deserve a federal holiday.