Columbus Day has been a federal holiday since President Franklin D. Roosevelt first proclaimed it such in 1934. One hundred years ago this month, Colorado Sen. Casimo Barela’s bill was signed into law, designating Oct. 12 of each year as a public holiday known as Columbus Day. Roosevelt and Barela recognized the significant achievements of Christopher Columbus, and rightly chose, with millions of other Americans, to honor him.

Columbus possessed admirable qualities, of which all Americans can be proud. Even by his detractors, he is seen as a skilled sea captain of the highest order. He challenged the conventional thought that the Earth was flat, seeking to “reach the east by going west,” an idea to which the scientists of the day were forcibly opposed. He challenged the Aristotelian philosophy of science that had guided scientists for centuries in favor of the newer philosophy of science that placed observation in a primary role of analysis. He supported the heliocentric concept of the solar system with Galileo, Copernicus and Kepler before it became known by that name. In capitalistic spirit (admirable in the eyes of most Americans), he sought glory, wealth and a title of nobility by opening new trade routes to China and Japan.

Most importantly, though, Columbus discovered the American continental coast and recorded the voyage in a way that enabled others to repeat the feat. The real achievement worthy of holidays, monuments and namesake cities is that he opened a route that could be sailed again by himself and others. It is Columbus’ method of discovery and record-keeping that distinguishes him from other explorers who may previously have “discovered” the New World. He opened the door to further discovery by explorers like Magellan, Cooke, Drake and Hudson. His discovery led to the creation of the greatest nation on Earth, the United States of America.

Today, Columbus is a scapegoat for perceived European sins intentionally committed in the Americas by non-Native Americans over the past 500 years. Those who oppose Columbus Day blame Columbus – and only Columbus – for acts of genocide, the continued suffering of indigenous people, the slave trade in the entire Western hemisphere, the United States governmental policy of Manifest Destiny, and the erosion of rights of indigenous peoples throughout the Americas. To blame Columbus for any of these, though, is to exonerate the policies, groups and individuals who practiced slavery and committed heinous crimes against humanity, including the French, English, U.S. and Spanish governments, Thomas Jefferson and other founding fathers, the Confederate States of America, the Ku Klux Klan, and the U.S. military officers who massacred Native Americans at places like Sand Creek. Place blame on those who deserve it, not on Christopher Columbus.

Contrary to the expressed opinions of those who oppose Columbus Day, Columbus did not introduce slavery to the Americas. Slave trading was a major part of the economy of the Ute Native American tribes, according to Colorado historian Virginia McConnell Simmons in her book “The Ute Indians of Utah, Colorado, and New Mexico.” Captives from battle were sold into slavery in places like Taos for horses and hides. Slavery was a universal institution in the world, lacking opposition until the mid-16th and early 17th centuries. St. Thomas Aquinas considered it a “product of original sin.” The Catholic Church and other churches, including the Eastern Church and the Reformation churches, disapproved, but sought only to mitigate its excesses. Slavery already existed in the Americas, especially in Central America, at the time of Columbus’ arrival; Cortez provided ample descriptions of what he found in the Mexico City of the Aztecs.

Even where Columbus first landed in what is now known as the “West Indies,” tribes practiced slavery and cannibalism. The Arawaks originally came from Venezuela and seized many islands during the 1st century AD, pushing other tribes back to the hinterlands. Some of the Arawak tribes, “discovered” by Columbus, practiced cannibalism. Between 1000 and 1500, the Carib tribes from the Guianas and Venezuela seized some islands from the Arawaks. The Arawaks were by that time a peaceful people, involved in agriculture and pottery, with a relatively elaborate social structure headed by hereditary chieftains. The Carib had a less elaborate social structure, and their society lives centered around warfare, including cannibalism. When they conquered the lesser Antilles, they killed the Arawak men, married their women, and adopted the Arawak language.

Christopher Columbus is a man worthy of the honors and accolades bestowed upon him. Instead of looking back 500 years and judging a man who lived before the military use of gunpowder by today’s mores, those who oppose Columbus Day should celebrate his discovery and be thankful they live in this great country.

David A. Sprecace is former president of the Denver Columbus Day Parade Commmittee.