Columbus Day 2017
Columbus Day seeks to commemorate the founding of the New World yet remains highly controversial. Nevertheless, it is still celebrated, albeit under different names in different places around the world.
The old and the new
Thousands of people participated in the celebration of Italian-American culture and heritage at a Columbus Day parade on Manhattan's Fifth Avenue in New York on October 9.
A long tradition
Columbus has been feted in the "New World" ever since 1792, when Italian immigrants in New York marked the 300th anniversary of their compatriot landing in the Americas.
Tense celebrations
October 12 is a national holiday in Spain, replete with military parades and royal attendance. This year's 'Dia de la Hispanidad' or Hispanic Day was held under high tension as the country reels from the biggest challenge to unity in a generation with its Catalan region threatening to break away.
Regimental honor
Members of La Legion, an elite unit of the Spanish Army, including a goat they use as a pet wait for the start of a military parade. The procession sees over 3,000 soldiers marching through Madrid and aircraft drawing trails of red and yellow smoke in the sky to represent the flag.
Indigenous indignation
Colombian indigenous people participate in a march in Bogota, Colombia, held on Dia de la Raza (Columbus Day). The first Indigenous People's Day was celebrated in 1977 as a more sensitive alternative to a day many felt commemorated the start of bloody repression.
Day of protest
A demonstrator is detained by riot police during a rally against Columbus Day in downtown Santiago, Chile. The commemoration has drawn protests from day one with movements calling for its abolition.