Today Is Christopher Columbus Day Observance

Today is the observance of Columbus Day, meaning that schools, banks, financial institutions, post offices and many governmental offices are closed. In addition, our neighbors to the north are celebrating Thanksgiving Day in Canada today. Need a review on Christopher Columbus?

Now some history about Christopher Columbus, courtesy of Wikipedia:

"Christopher Columbus (c. 31 October 1451 – 20 May 1506) was an explorer, colonizer, and navigator, born in the Republic of Genoa, in northwestern Italy. Under the auspices of the Catholic Monarchs of Spain, he completed four voyages across the Atlantic Ocean that led to general European awareness of the American continents in the Western Hemisphere.

On the evening of 3 August 1492, Columbus departed from Palos de la Frontera with three ships: a larger carrack, the Santa María ex-Gallega ("Galician"), and two smaller caravels, the Pinta ("Painted") and the Santa Clara, nicknamed the Niña (lit. "Girl") after her owner Juan Niño of Moguer."

As a college student, I always liked Columbus Day, because it was the first three-day weekend we had off in the fall semester.