1. Geo Day 75

2. Draw a map of the school. Be as detailed as you can!
Starter

3. The Age of Exploration

4. Today’s Learning Targets
I will be able to explain the reasons for European exploration in the Americas
I will be able to formulate and explain my view of Columbus
Today’s Learning Targets

5. Marco Polo
First European to thoroughly document his journey through Asia
Known for his maps he created
His journeys inspired Christopher Columbus

6. God
Gold
Glory
3 G’s of Exploration

7. What were the goals of Spanish explorers?
God: To convert the native people to Christianity.
Gold: To acquire riches for themselves and the country they represent. (Some explorers, like Columbus, were not Spanish, but represented Spain)
Glory: To bring power and prestige to Spain.
What were the goals of Spanish explorers?

8. Hero or Villain?

9. Columbus lived an impoverished, unspectacular childhood
Columbus lived an impoverished, unspectacular childhood. He spent his youth studying geography and developing his love for sailing. In manhood, Columbus was relentless in peddling his belief that by sailing westward, he could reach India and the Indies. His audiences with the Spanish royalty are legendary. 1

10. When Columbus set foot on that sandy beach in the Bahamas on October 12, 1492, Columbus discovered that the islands were inhabited by friendly, peaceful people called Tainos and Arawaks. Writing in his diary, Columbus said they were a handsome, s mart and kind people. He noted that the gentle Arawaks were remarkable for their hospitality. “They offered to share with anyone and when you ask for something, they never say no,” he said. Their society had neither criminals, prisons, nor prisoners. They were so kind-hearted that Columbus noted in his diary that on the day the Santa Maria was shipwrecked, the Arawaks labored for hours to save his crew and cargo. The native people were so honest that no one thing was missing. 2

11. Columbus stated, “It was the Lord who put into my mind (I could feel His hand upon me) the fact that it would be possible to sail from there to the Indies. All who heard of my project rejected it with laughter, ridiculing me. There is no question that the inspiration was from the Holy Spirit, because he comforted me with rays of marvelous illumination from the Holy Scriptures… encouraging me to continually to press forward and without ceasing for a moment they now encourage me make haste.” 3

12. First of all, Columbus wasn’t the first European to discover America
First of all, Columbus wasn’t the first European to discover America. As we all know, the Viking, Leif Ericson probably founded a Norse village on Newfoundland some 500 years earlier. The whole concept of discovering America is, well arrogant. After all, the Native Americans discovered North America more than 15,000 years before Columbus was even born. 4

13. Columbus sparked a genocidal avalanche of misery and mayhem that decimated the Arawak Indians. In fact, the entire European exploration and settlement era exploded into an imperialistic inferno with Christopher Columbus holding the match. European explorers were brutal, and the Arawak tribe suffered under the Spanish. The Spanish would cut off the Arawaks’ hands if they did not find gold for them! 5

14. Columbus found on his second voyage that the Arawaks had killed the men whom he had left there on his first voyage. He took about 500 natives back to Spain with him as slaves, partly to “Christianize” them and probably to justify the expenses of his voyages in view of a relative lack of gold found. 6

15. Christopher Columbus was a great sailor, a great navigator, a great Admiral, a fine organizer and businessman. He did what he did- and did it first- by virtue of extensive readings, broad professional experience on the seas from the age of 14, keen observation and deduction. His findings in the Americas was a discovery about to be made by any other good sailor with his ability and drive – it was inevitable. 7

16. In a letter to the treasurer of the king and queen of Spain, Christopher Columbus reported on his first journey: “Believing that you will rejoice at the glorious success that our Lord has granted me in my voyage, I write this to tell you how in thirty- three days I reached the Indies with the first fleet which the most illustrious King and Queen, our Sovereigns, gave me, where I discovered a great many thickly-populated islands. Without meeting resistance, I have taken possession of them all for their Highnesses When I reached [Cuba], I followed its coast to the westward, and found it so large that I thought it must be the mainland—the province of [China], but I found neither towns nor villages on the seacoast, save for a few hamlets.” 8

17. Christopher Columbus is neither as pure nor as despicable as he is portrayed. He was human, a walking paradox whose life was filled with flaw and virtue, success and failure. He accomplished more than he knew while never quite realizing his dreams. Why not celebrate Christopher Columbus’ courage and contributions while learning from his faults and failures? 9

18. Pure Hero (90 points)
Mostly Hero (More than 45)
In the middle (45 points)
Mostly Villain (Less than 45)
Pure Villain (9 points)

19. Sailed for Spanish monarchs, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella
Believed he reached the Indies, names the native people Indians
Although he never sets foot on the mainland of the continent of North America, his voyage opens up the New World for further European exploration
Christopher Columbus

20. Ferdinand Magellan First documented person to sail around the world
Wanted to find passageway through Americas to Asia
Finds and sails through Strait of Magellan at the tip of South America

22. Magellan – Over the Edge of the World

23. Treaty of Tordesillas