India, Oct. 6 -- Columbus Day, which celebrates Christopher Columbus's arrival in the Americas on October 12, 1492, is a federal holiday in the United States. This year, Columbus Day will be observed on October 13. Here is all you should know about this federal holiday, which is also called Indigenous Peoples' Day.

Columbus Day was founded by President Benjamin Harrison in 1892 in response to the mass lynching of 11 Italian Americans in New Orleans in 1891, as per the US Embassy and Consulates in Italy. According to the Library of Congress, the lynching occurred during a time of widespread anti-immigrant and anti-Italian sentiment in the US, following the murder of police chief David Hennessy.

Since Columbus Day is dedicated to the hist...