Scroll through American politicians' feeds today and Columbus Day looks like an Italian holiday. Italian flags, Italian heritage, Italian pride. One country is missing from the picture: the one that paid for the voyage. Italy did not exist in 1492. It would not exist for another 369 years. Columbus was Genoese, yes. Everything else was Castilian: Queen Isabella's money, ships fitted out in Palos, the Pinzón brothers commanding the Pinta and the Niña, a crew drawn largely from Andalusia. That is why October 12 is Spain's National Day. America should know this better than anyone. St. Augustine, the oldest city in the United States, was founded by a Spaniard in 1565, four decades before Jamestown. Bernardo de Gálvez fought for American independence, and Congress made him an honorary citizen. Some 65 million Americans today have roots in the Hispanic world. Disagreements between Washington and Madrid come and go. History does not. Spain's next government must defend it without hesitation, at home and abroad, with the same pride Americans show for their Fourth of July. The story of 1492 was written in Spanish, and it will keep being told in Spanish. 🇪🇸 Would you call the Moon landing a German achievement because Wernher von Braun was born in Germany?