Why do we celebrate Columbus day and not Leif Erickson day?

Well, as Armouror pointed out there, October 9th *is* Leif Erikson Day. It is, however, basically only celebrated in Minnesota and Wisconsin (due to the large amount of Norwegian-Americans and the occasional Swedish-American).

The official reason for not pulling the plug on Columbus Day is "because the Norse discovery of America did not have such an profound impact on the colonization as Christopher Columbus'". Although that is true in a way, there might be more to it than that. The Norse did indeed try to colonize North America. Not because of "the decline of the Vikings", Norway remained a Great Power up to the 1300's, they were basically the British Empire of the day, with colonies in many countries and a 300-ship navy that allowed them domination of the seas. No, the abandonment of the colonies was due to the eruption of conflict with the natives. After relations went awry after a Norse settler killed a native that had come to their market (the Native Americans were particularly impressed with the colored cloth the Norse had brought with them, by the way), and people on both sides were killed, the leader of Hop, Karlsefni Thorsteinson, decided that the "choice and good" land was not worth a war with the natives (they could have asked for military support from their home countries, but Iceland... was a mess, imagine if the federal government suddenly collapsed, and Norway was not interested in any new colonies unless there were valuable materials there). So they left, and soon one after another of the colonies disbanded. Instead they kept the more valuable colonies at Greenland, until the 1450's, when they too were abandoned due to climate cooling screwing up the farmers' harvests. The Greenland colonies traded with the Native Americans and chopped down North American trees to build houses from on Greenland (traditional and contemporary Scandinavian houses are made from wood).

However, the Viking expeditions were no secret. It was well known in Scandinavia that Vinland existed. It was just that nobody thought it was important. Like it is today with Canada. However, once Columbus came back and went all "Hai everybody, look what I found! In your face, scholars!", the Scandinavians started protesting. This was, however, centuries after the end of the Viking Age. Scandinavia was no longer the feared power center of Europe. Instead they were now the small (Norway is currently the size of Texas with the population of Minnesota) countries we all mostly ignore today. Everybody just wrote it off as jealousy over Columbus' splenderifousness.

But it turns out Columbus might actually have stolen the whole thing from them. Columbus visited Bergen in Norway in the 1470's, and soon thereafter he started fabulating about sailing west to go east. There is also a possibility that he visited Iceland (where they had maps or at least sailing descriptions) and even Greenland (from where they would actually have been able to take him to the new continent). Now, you may know that the European scholars laughed at him. Why? Not because they thought the Earth was flat (actually people have known that the Earth is round since 200 BC), but because he was either an idiot or batshit insane. He had done the math for the navigation *himself*, instead of consulting with experts (and the scholars could easily see that he had calculated the estimated circumference of the Earth to a third of its actual value), he used the partly-made-up book by Marco Polo (a book he hadn't even read) as "proof" of the riches of China, and finally; he wanted to sail around the world, invade the Middle East with his 150 or so men, take and hold Jerusalem with the same number of men, and then rebuild the Temple of Solomon and trigger doomsday. However, he showed Queen Isabella of Spain some "secret documents" that convinced her to invest in him personally. This might very well have been a map showing Vinland.

Tl;dr: Cristoforo Colombo (his real name) was, in addition to being a self-righteous douchebag causing the death and enslavement of millions, also crazy, and might have stolen his big discovery from the Scandinavians. The only reason we still celebrate him is because Columbus Day was started 25 years before they found proof of the Viking presence, and because removing it now would offend the Italian-Americans. Millions of dollars are spent every year to celebrate a thieving racist lunatic who managed to accidentally hit the wrong continent during his crazy-trip in old dilapitated ships with a crew of convicted felons.

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Lief Erickson, the viking explorer, landed in Newfoundland almost 500 Columbus set sail from Spain. The reason why Columbus is celebrated instead of Erickson, the first European to actually land on the Americas, is because the Spanish did so much with this "new knowledge" than the Vikings did. An unsuccessful viking settlement was established shortly after Erickson's landing, but due to hostile NAtive American attacks, the exploring party was forced to leave, never to come back. For the Spanish, however, Columbus was only the first of a long line of settlers and colonists to come. The Spanish Empire would grow rich off the gold and silver of the New World and would overthrow the Aztecs and Incas to achieve this goal. it would eventually encompass almost all of South America, Central America, and the southern portion of North America. THAT is why Columbus s celebrated instead of Erickson.... Hope I Helped!!!

I vote for Nafenlaus.

I detest Columbus. The man was the World's Worst Navigator and was lost almost his entire career..!

What He was looking for was the Spice Coast of East India. What he found, mostly by blundering into the Carribean, was The Americas. He got nothing right..! He named the natives he saw 'Indians' and that name stuck for over 400 years..!

He was dishonest. He cheated his crew. He abused native slaves. He brought back no spices and he is forever remembered as The Man Who Discovered America, which, in fact had been discovered, firstly by Native Americans and then The Clovis People and later, The Vikings.

Columbus does not deserve to be venerated.

Because the Viking discovery and very brief landing (not even really a 'settlement') in North America had no effect in Europe - the rest of Europe just didn't hear about it, or if a few did hear of it they ignored the implications.

The discovery by Columbus had huge effect within a few decades - the get-rich-quick Spaniard adventurers took over the middle and southern parts of the Americas with huge repercussions for Europe and for the Native Americans, and not much later for Africans shipped as slaves.

Such is fame! It's not always the first person who gets the credit, sometimes it's the first person who shouts loudly in a place where he is heard.

Leif was just an adventurer; compared to Columbus. His 'discovery' of North America basically achieved nothing - no permanent settlements, no permanent contact established, no maps made or new knowledge - it might as well have never happened.

Columbus, on the other hand, achieved a great deal. Permanent contact was made with native-Americans, the first settlements were built, and he gained much knowledge about the world, which he shared.

That's nonsense, NazF. There were viking settlements made in the New World, and they were designed to be permanent. However, the Norse civilization steadily began to decline shortly thereafter, which lead to the progressive abandonment of the more outwardly viking settlements - first in vinland, and eventually in Greenland itself altogether. The only difference with Columbus was that the European colonial states didn't decline - they continued expanding, and thus so did their settlement activities.

Columbus wasn't personally into settlements. Honestly, he was really rather a scummy character. His first reaction upon seing the natives and how niced they treated him was to write a letter talking about how easy they'd be to conquer and how great slaves they'd make. The crown wasn't interested in slaves - they cared only about making money and saving souls.

Boston is an essential mixture of colonial history and cutting-edge innovation. From the wonderful cobblestones of Beacon Hill and progressive landmarks of the Freedom Trail, to the legendary reasons of Harvard University and Fenway Park, Boston is just a prize chest of Americana and with hotelbye you can have the chance to know this treasure. Boston is known it because the "holder of liberty" and Faneuil Hall is among the areas must-see just like the adjoining Faneuil Hall Marketplace, a spot that features three extended halls: Quincy Industry, North Industry, and South Market. , Faneuil Hall Marketplace is dating from the early 19th century and is currently entertained by way of a exciting choice of stores, restaurants, and exhibitions. In great climate, you'll find block performers and buskers gaining shows in the square around the market.

History lesson

United States

US stamp issued on Leif Erikson Day, 1968.

Stories of Leif's journey to North America had a profound effect on the identity and self-perception of later Nordic Americans and Nordic immigrants to the United States.

The first statue of Leif (by Anne Whitney) was erected in Boston in 1887, as many believed that Vinland could have been located at Cape Cod not long after, another casting of Whitney's statue was erected in Milwaukee.[33] A statue was also erected in Chicago in 1901, having been originally commissioned for the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition to coincide with the arrival of a reconstructed Viking ship from Bergen, Norway.

Another work of art made for the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition, the painting Leiv Eiriksson oppdager Amerika by Christian Krohg, was in the possession of a Leif Erikson Memorial Association in Chicago before being given back to the National Gallery of Norway in 1900.

For the one hundred year anniversary of the first official immigration of Norwegians to America, President Calvin Coolidge stated at the 1925 Minnesota State Fair, to a crowd of one hundred thousand people, that Leif had indeed been the first European to discover America.[10] Further statues of Leif were erected at the Minnesota State Capitol in St. Paul in 1949, near Lake Superior in Duluth in 1956, and in downtown Seattle.

The date October 9 has been used to remember Leif Ericson in the United States. In 1929, the Wisconsin Legislature passed a bill to make October 9 "Leif Erikson Day" in the state; the bill was signed by Governor Walter J. Kohler, Sr. in May of the same year.

That date was not chosen to commemorate any event in the life of the explorer. Rather, it marked the first organized immigration from Norway to the United States when the ship Restauration, coming from Stavanger, arrived in New York Harbor on October 9, 1825.

In 1964 the United States Congress authorized and requested the president to proclaim October 9 of each year as "Leif Erikson Day

and I am an Australian

Columbus Day was started by FDR as a nod to the Italian - American voters.

There's not so much ethnic pride in Nordic Americans.

Who celebrates Columbus day? I don't and I don't know anyone else who does either. We don't even celebrate St. George's day, so why would we want to celebrate some obscure 15th Century Italian mariner?