Top 'Columbus Day' and 'Indigenous Peoples Day' Fact Checks on Snopes

On the second Monday of every October, the United States celebrates Columbus Day, marking Christopher Columbus' arrival in the Americas in 1492. The Italian explorer has traditionally been lauded in school classrooms as the "discoverer" of the Americas.

In more recent years, considerable debate arose around the destructive impact of European conquests on the indigenous inhabitants of the Americas, with many Native Americans calling on historians to look at Columbus' arrival from that perspective. Since 2021, the U.S. government has recognized the same day as Indigenous Peoples Day, which marks the historic contributions of Native Americans.

Below is a collection of our top fact checks surrounding Columbus Day. Some of the claims we've fact-checked have dealt with Columbus' role in selling slaves and whether or not he actually " discovered " North America. Be sure to keep an eye on this roundup, we frequently update it with new analyses and fact checks about the holiday.