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Columbus Day commemorates Columbus' famed expedition across the Atlantic Ocean, in which he hoped to find a naval route to India. Instead, he found an entire continent that was mostly unknown to Europeans at the time. While other Europeans had sporadically visited the Americas earlier, and there are varied theories of even earlier contact by East Asians, Phoenicians, and others, Columbus' expedition triggered the great wave of European interest in the New World. Unlike the earlier visitors, Columbus aggressively popularized his discoveries and arranged for return voyages. Columbus day is...