--- title: Columbus Day: Here's Why We Celebrate It description: See how Columbus Day actually become a holiday and find out who celebrates it. canonical: https://time.com/3491175/columbus-day-why/ author: Salima Koroma article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-10-10T20:43:07.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T10:43:32.176Z article:section: History og:title: Columbus Day: Here's Why We Celebrate It og:description: See how Columbus Day actually become a holiday and find out who celebrates it. og:url: https://time.com/3491175/columbus-day-why/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf6bead33e2c28192/69876020f887dc3a8be876ce/christopher-columbus-day.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Christopher Columbus og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Columbus Day: Here's Why We Celebrate It twitter:description: See how Columbus Day actually become a holiday and find out who celebrates it. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf6bead33e2c28192/69876020f887dc3a8be876ce/christopher-columbus-day.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # See How Christopher Columbus Got His Own Holiday by [Salima Koroma](https://time.com/author/salima-koroma/) ## Salima Koroma Oct 10, 2014 8:43 PM UTC  Christopher Columbus (1451-1506), painting by Peter Johann Nepomuk Geiger (1805-1880). Christopher Columbus (1451-1506), painting by Peter Johann Nepomuk Geiger (1805-1880).De Agostini—Getty Images by [Salima Koroma](https://time.com/author/salima-koroma/) ## Salima Koroma Oct 10, 2014 8:43 PM UTC _In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue_, or at least, that’s what they told you in Kindergarten class. In fact, that’s probably all you really remember about the Genoa-born explorer, Christopher Columbus — and only when Columbus Day rolls around, if you’re fortunate enough to get a day off for it (Only 23 states give their workers a paid day off to celebrate it, [according to a 2013 Pew poll](http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2013/10/14/working-on-columbus-day-it-depends-on-where-you-live/)). So you may be wondering how Columbus Day actually became a federal holiday, and who celebrates it. Watch the video above to find out. Read next: [_Who Has Columbus Day Off (and Who Doesn’t)_](http://time.com/4064411/columbus-day-2015-national-holiday-work/) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3491175/columbus-day-why/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3491175/columbus-day-why/"},"headline":"See How Christopher Columbus Got His Own Holiday","datePublished":"2014-10-10T20:43:07.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T10:43:32.176Z","description":"The 15th century explorer is known for \"discovering\" the New World","url":"https://time.com/3491175/columbus-day-why/","keywords":["History","South America","Native Americans","central america"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf6bead33e2c28192/69876020f887dc3a8be876ce/christopher-columbus-day.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Salima Koroma","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/salima-koroma/"}],"articleSection":"History","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf6bead33e2c28192/69876020f887dc3a8be876ce/christopher-columbus-day.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Christopher Columbus","caption":"Christopher Columbus","creditText":"De Agostini—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/history/","name":"History"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3491175/columbus-day-why/","name":"See How Christopher Columbus Got His Own Holiday"}}]}] ```