1. The story behind the sailor

2.  Occurs annually every second Monday in October  Columbus has been accredited for opening up the Americas to European colonization  He also was one of few people who believed that the world was round, not flat

3.  Born in 1451 in Italy, which at the time was Republic of Genoa.  Columbus was born into a merchant home and did not get involved in sailing until he was a teenager

4.  Married and settled to Felipa Perestrello in Lisbon, Portugal  They both had one son who was named Diego around 1480  Felipa died after the family moved to Spain  Columbus had another son in 1488 with Beatriz Enriquez de Arana out of wedlock

5.  Almost cost him his life  Attacked by French privateers  Columbus escaped by swimming to shore  The shore he swam to was Lisbon, Portugal where he later met his future wife

6.  Travelled to Africa through many trading expeditions  Gained more knowledge of the Atlantic current flowing east and west with every journey  Travelled to India and China for trade  The route was dangerous because of war with Middle East  Led to thinking of a different route for going west to India and China

7.  Experts disagreed with Columbus  Distance was further than anticipated  Widely believed that the earth was flat  Rejection  Portugal  Genoa  Venice  Spain  The Spanish monarch took interest but rejected Columbus due to the war that they were engaging with the Middle East

8.  Columbus continued to speak with the royal court numerous times during the war  War was finally over in January 1492  Columbus was well funded with three ships  Columbus left that August with permission of the courts

9.  Columbus was given three ships to sail across the ocean blue  Santa Maria  Pinta  Niña  36 days of sailing across the Atlantic  Landed not in the Americas but the Bahamas!  There he met local natives

10.  No, Natives were timid but friendly  They traded with Columbus and his crew  Columbus also noticed the golden jewerly that the natives were wearing  This foreshadowed catastrophic events that will come in the future  He built a village because the boat Santa Maria wrecked on the coast

11.  39 men stayed behind to attend the town  Two of the three ships (Niña and Pinta) returned to Spain by 1493  They brought the good news (thinking that they had reached Asia)

12.  When Columbus returned he found out that the village he left behind was burned to the ground and the people were massacred.  Columbus came back to further explore for gold along the land that he has come across  His third voyage, he finally encountered the mainland (Venezuela)

13.  The new settlers and crew claimed that they were misled and lied to with poor management  Columbus was brought before court in chains and brought on trial  The charges were eventually dropped but Columbus was stripped of his title of governor of the Indies

14.  A few years later Columbus convinced King Ferdinand using riches to persuade him to permit this voyage even after all the trouble Columbus had caused  Last voyage was in 1502  While along the eastern coast of Central America, a storm led to his ship being wrecked

15.  Islanders were fed up with the poor treatment and the European gold obsession  They did not supply the Europeans with food like they did in the past  Retaliation  Columbus threatened the islanders by stating he was going to punish them!  He claimed he had the power of taking the moon away  Knowing a lunar eclipse was going to occur  It scared the Natives back into trade  Eventually a rescue party came in November of 1504

16.  He did regain some of the riches with that last expedition but Columbus never regained his title of Governor  Columbus died May 20 th, 1506  He left this world with the impression that he discovered Asia

17.  Pros  He opened up a trade route to Americas  Proved that the world was indeed round  Cons  Destruction of native peoples  Did not find a new easier trade route to India  Overall  Affected every society on the planet by the transfer of plants, animals, disease and cultures.

18.  Information found at:  "Christopher Columbus. biography." bio. True Story. A&E Television Networks, 2011. Web. 6 Oct 2011..  All pictures found from Microsoft Clip Art