Columbus continued to explore the region through the middle of January before returning to first Portugal and then Spain, having believed he had been in the East Indies off of southeast Asia the entire time, having both underestimated the size of the Earth and overestimated the size of Asia, partly due to different systems of measurement in use during his time, despite scholars having calculated the size of Earth as far back as 300 BC, 1800 years earlier,
He returned to colonize the region during his second voyage in late 1493, still believing that Cuba was a peninsula of the Asian continent, and made his third trip in 1498, which included his first stop on the mainland of South America. His fourth and final voyage took place in 1502, which included extensive exploration of the east coast of southern Central America. With his ships battered by storms and attacks by the natives, Columbus and his men were eventually stranded on Jamaica for a year before aid eventually arrive. He and his crew were finally able to return to Spain where he died on May 20, 1506 at the estimated age of 54.
While the North and South American continents were eventually named after Italian Amerigo Vespucci, Columbus was honored as a founding figure of the New World and many places were named either "Columbia" or "Columbus" in his honor following the American Revolution in the 1770's, including the District of Columbia, Columbia, the capital city of South Carolina, and the capital of Ohio, Columbus, which is now home to the Columbus Blue Jackets of the NHL.
Columbus Day became a federal holiday in the United States in 1937 in part due to the efforts of the fraternal organization the Knights of Columbus, although Columbus' arrival has been celebrated back to colonial times. It's particularly popular among Italian-Americans who see it as a celebration of their heritage, which dates back to 1866 in New York City.
In recent times, opposition has arisen to Columbus Day, as Columbus has come under not only criticism for his treatment of the indigenous people he personally encountered, but also due to his becoming symbolic of the devastating diseases brought to the New World by the Europeans and the treatment and genocide of the local populations by the Europeans who colonized the American continents following his arrival, despite Columbus never having stepped foot on the North American mainland.
Next up, the basics of the Christopher Columbus story as told by a real cool hep-cat.