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TITLE Columbus and the . Activity Guide. INSTITUTION WGBH-TV, Boston, Mass. SPONS AGENCY Xerox Corp., Rochester, N.Y. PUB DATE 92 NOTE 37p. AVAILABLE FROMWGBH, Columbus and the Age of Discovery, Box 2222-CG, South Easton, MA 02375 ($4). PUB TYPE Guides Classroom Use Teaching Guides (For Teacher) (052)

EDRS PRICE MF01/PCO2 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS Controversial Issues (Course Content); *Instructional Materials; Learning Activities; Political Issues; Secondary Education; Sccial Studies; *Teaching Guides; Television; *World IDENTIFIERS *Columbus (Christopher); *

ABSTRACT This seven part teacher's guide is designed to accompany the Public Broadcasting System (PBS) television series, "Columbus and the Age of Discovery," and also may be used without viewing the programs. The guide features seven units that reflect the themes of the television series. The units are:(1) "Columbus's World";(2) "An Idea Takes Shape";(3) "The Crossing";(4) "Worlds Found and Lost";(5) "The Sword and the Cross";(6) "The Columbian Exchange"; and (7) "In Search of Columbus". The focus of the units is on activities that are related to the subjects covered in the programs. The activities are designed to help students understand the world that produced , the cultures that existed in the before he arrived, the motivations behind his voyages, the resulting exchange, and the legacy of his encounter. In addition to the scven units and seven activities, the guide offers extensive reading and resource lists and student handouts that support the activities. The National Council for the Social Studies Position Statement on the Columbian Quincentenary also is included. (DB)

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Dear Educator:

Five hundred years ago, Columbus made his historic voyages to the ; his experiences continue to fascinate and to enlighten us. This is why Xerox is proud to sponsor two major quincentenary programs: the television series Columbus and the Age of Discovery and the "Seeds of Change" exhibition at the Smithsonian. By combining the informative and entertaining television series Columbus and the Age of Discovery with this Teacher's Guide, we hope that you and your students will it9-1- relive Columbus's extraordinary encounters in the . To further your learning about Columbus and the impact of his voyages, we invite you to visit the "Seeds of Change" exhibition, open until May 1993. As the corporate underwriter of these two noteworthy programs, it is our hope that you will use this material to stimulate and encourage your students in their quest for knowledge and the pursuit of new discoveries.

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Ordering Information Off-Air Taping Rights ytcwGiAr- -.Is's.1,a Additional copies of this All programs in this series

teacher's guide are available may be recorded and shown t*.t.A1 for $4 (to cover postage and for educational use within Ak handling). Please send seven days directly after checks payable to WGBH to broadcast. Videocassettes are

also availab'.e. For infor- ;SI... WGBH mation about videocassettes, Columbus and the Age contact of Discovery Box 2222-CG The WGBH Collection South Easton, MA 02375 P.O. Box 2053 (617) 963-8666 Princeton, NJ 08543 (800) 828-WGBH For information about Fax: (609) 452-1602 the student newspaper -,;i\ ' supplement. see the The WGBH Collection is Resources section on distributed for WGBH by Films for the Humanities pages 28-29. and Sciences.

Columbus wrote this letter to Luis de Santangel, keeper of the privy purse to the Spanish crown, on the return from his first voyage. stalviv Copyright © 1992 WGBH Educational Foundation3 12/0wAttrit 0" BEST COPY AVAIF" 1 . *,. Contents

2 Using This Guide 18Activity:The Faces of Columbus 3 Stormy Waters 19Activity:Test Your Columbus IQ Or, Can a Series about Columbus 20Activity: Mesoamerican Cultures Be "Politically Correct"? (And Does It Need to Be?) 21Activity: Columbus's Letter 4 Unit 1: Columbus's World 22Activity: Reading Pictures 6 Unit 2: An Idea Takes Shape 23Activity: Judging Columbus 8 Unit 3:The Crossing 94Activity:Through the Looking Glass 10Unit 4:Worlds Found and Lost 26Suggested Readings

17Unit 5:The Sword and the Cross 28Resources 14Unit 6:The Columbian Exchange 30NCSS Position Statement 16Unit 7: In Search of Columbus 32Answers to Test Your ColumbLs IQ 33Credits Replicas of Columbus's three ships, built by the Spanish Royal , sail .

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The Columbus Quincentenary has been met by a host of conflicting voices.The issues raised by the controversy will not be easily resolved. Educators can take this opportunity to let students hear all the voices and discover for themselves the many perspectives on this issue.

About the Series special have seven-day off-air taping designed to help your students under- As you can read in the article on the rights: you can tape the programs and stand the world that produced facing page, the producer of Columbus use them in the classroom within Columbus, the cultures that existed in and the Age of Discovery has been seven days after broadcast. For infor- the Western Hemisphere before he listening to these voices for the past mation about videocassettes, see the arrived, the motivations behind his ten years. The seven-part series that inside front cover. voyages, the resulting exchange, and resulted from his exploration of the the legacy of the encounter. topic premiered in October 1991 and About the Guide In addition to the seven activity- will be rebroadcast this fall. This teacher's guide is designed to based units, this guide offers extensive However, before the full series work with the three-hour special, the reading and resource lists to guide you sails again, PBS will broadcast a three- seven-part series, and on its own. The and your students as you dive into hour special, Columbus' Magnificent guide is broken up into seven units sometimes murky water. We have Voyage, on Sunday, October 11, at reflecting the themes of the series. included both traditional and alternative 8:00P.M.This recut, renarrated Each unit includes a synopsis of the books and organizations. We have also program will take the broad scope of accompanying program with discus- reproduced the Columbian the seven-part series and focus more sion questions. The three-hour special Quincentenary Position Statement from closely on Columbus, the world will focus mostly on material from the the National Council for the Social around him, and the incredible voyage first four programs. Studies (NCSS), which offers guidelines that led to the bringing together of The focus of the seven units is for studying Columbus and the two very old and very different on activities. These activities are Quincentenary. worlds. related to the subjects covered in the As the NCSS states, Columbus's Following the broadcast of this programs, but do not require viewing voyage is too significant to be ignored three-hour special, the original seven- them. If you are viewing the three- or to be treated trivially. The world we part series will be rebroadcast begin- hour special, you can still use any of know today would not have come to ning Thursday, October 15 at 8:00 the activities in the seven units, be without the chain of events set in P.M. on many public television sta- depending on what subject areas you motion by that initial contact. And tions. Call your local public television are studying. Some of these activities understanding and dealing with our station to confirm the broadcast dates are supported by reproducible student common future as a global and times in your area. Both the handouts found on pages 18 through begins with understanding what has seven-part series and the three-hour 25. In general, the activities are happened in the past. Stormy Waters

Or, Can a Series about Coulmbus Be "Politically Correct" (And Does It Need to Be?) by Executive Producer Zvi Dor-Ner

,4.f.7.1112. Columbus and the Age of Discoveryis This opinion is shared by African part of the 500th anniversary of 1 Americans, whose forebears were Columbus's arrival on these shores. brought initially to the , This anniversary is under immense then to North and , as political scrutiny. slaves. For them, the Quincentenary This is a relatively new phenom- is an occasion to mourn the freedom enon. In 1984, when the U.S. Con- that was lost when their ancestors gress appointed a commission to were captured and forced to work on prepare for what was seen then as a the plantations of the :.meticas. They celebration, it was given a long, want their suffering remembered. awkward name that also declared its Columbus and the Age of Discovery politics. It was and still is called has never intendeu to choose among the Christopher Columbus these attitudes. We do not endorse Quincentenary Jubilee Commission. one at the expense of another. The Eight years later, nobody in series tells its stories in many voices public life is sure whether the event and from many points of view, as deserves jubilation, and the press is Executive Producer Zvi Dor-Ner befits a history that has affected so deeply engaged in defining what is many in many different ways. and what isn't "politically correct" In the maritime of keeping a As we produced the series, our about Columbus. Clearly, after 500 weather eye, here are the feelings fascination with Columbus increased. years, Columbus is sailing again but about Columbus we see coming over He was a man of obsessive energy this time into stormy political waters. the horizon. and drive, a marvelous sailor and a Columbus and the Age of Discovery The most common attitude in rotten administrator, a man who was inspired by con-7oversy. In 1982 is still jubilation and accidentally brought vast continents I read about a United debate admiration. In this view, Columbus into painful conflict and a fragile on a proposal from the Spanish is transformed into the archetypal unity. It is ironic that Columbus will delegation to name the next decade in American a successful entrepreneur be both blamed and admired, glorified honor of Christopher Columbus. and a magnificent salesman, whose wit and vilified, for deeds he neither A host of objections was raised and knowledge overcame ignorance intended nor understood. even then. There was a disagreement and inertia. At the same time, we feel great between the Spanish and the Auother view is that often held empathy for the Native Americans about the division of national honors by Americans. For them, and African Americans. They paid for Columbus's deeds. The Scandina- Columbus's arrival here was the the heaviest price in this chapter of vians suggested that if anyone should beginning of a monumental encounter history. And we are awed by the be celebrated for discovering America, that benefited both the Americas and forces unleashed by the encounter it should be Eric the Red. . They point with pride to the between the continents the ex- Delegates from African countries introduction of , for change of disease, for example, whose thought the idea of honoring a rank example, and the creation ofla raza,a impact on history we are just begin- colonialist outrageous. And delegates new people. For them, this is an event ning to understand. from Caribbean nations repeated a by- worthy of commemoration, if not an All of these attitudes are repre- now familiar line: How could Colum- outright jubilee. sented in the series. The story of bus have discovered America? The A very different view is held by Christopher Columbus is formidable people in the Caribbean knew where Native Americans in both North and and larger-than-life, a story of adven- they were it was Columbus who South America. They hold that ture and misadventure which in some was lost. Columbus started an invasion that way has touched the lives of everyone destroyed much of their culture and in the world. subjugated their people.

3 BEST COPY AVAILME. 1 Columbus's World

The series begins with Columbus's youth in the bustling commercial center of .The first episode traces the life line of European trade, showing how Asian goods and became essential to Europe's wealth, and how the rise of Islamic power threatened to cut Europe's access to the East.The contributions of Arab mapmakers, European mariners,and travelers like toward refining the medieval conception of the world is examined, and the program poses the tantalizing question of why it was the Europeans not the Arabs or the Chinese who used this information to initiate the Age of Discovery.

Centers of Commerce This late.fifteenth-century manuscript illumination Despite the fact that half the globe was still unknown to depicts various aspects of them, Europeans, Africans, banking in the late Middle Arabs, and Asians partici- Ages: counting and ledger- pated in far-flung networks keeping, the repayment qf of trade. Students may want debt, and the delivery of to discuss the topograpkkal money or gold for deposit. features that contributed to the roles of these cities in the fifteenth-century economy.

Genoa A mercantile with bases in , North , the Acgean, 2nd the , Genoa's networks stretched from Portugal, England, and Flanders to Persia, , and .

Cairo The most advanced city of its time, unparalleled in wealth, splendor, and Malacca scholarship. European The greatest trading center mer- came here to in the East. Philippine gold, buy goods from West Chinese and . Africa and the East. and Moluccan were exchanged at this Malaysian Timbuktu (Istanbul) port. No Europeans were One of the richest commer- The gateway between allowed to trade here, cial cities in Africa, and a Europe and . Its fall to center ofMoslem learning, the advancing Turkish Ivory, slaves, and gold from Empire in 1453 forced the south were traded for salt, European merchants cloth, and copper froni the to seek sea routes to Africa north. Unable to find the city and the East. until 1824, the Portuguese had to tap into trade networks 7 downstream. 4 Activities population size or some charac- one to support or refute in an essay. 1 To help students grasp the problem teristic besides political boundaries. Then have students discuss their of envisioning a world that is only Have each team display its map and arguments with the class. Why do partly explored, have them take on the discuss its features. Then have the class they think the NCSS chose these role of medieval mapmakers. Divide compare the various maps. What is the seven statements? Has the NCSS's students into teams, based on the purpose of each map? What world focus added to their understanding of directions from which they come to view does each represent? Which map the period compared with what they school. Appoint one student in each do they think is most accurate? How learned about Columbus when they team as mapmaker. Have that student have social, technological, and histori- were younger? Would they add any interview another team about the cal changes affected the way we other statements? What do they think routes they take to school, and draw a represent the world on paper? is most important for people to know map based on their answers. about Columbus and this period? Have students present their maps 3 Explore the role of the artist in to the class. How accurate is each shaping our perceptions of history. Discussion Questions map? What landmarks does it include? Photocopy and distribute The Faces 1 Fifteenth-century Genoa was an What landmarks does it omit, and of Columbus on page 18 and discuss ambitious mercantile city that thrived why? What problerns did the the different portraits. What kind of on sea trade. What values might the mapmakers face in integrating differ- person does Columbus seem to be in young Columbus have absorbed in ent accounts? To what extent are the each picture? What means does the this environment? maps purely geographical documents, artist use to convey a particular and to what extent do they reflect the impression? If the picture shows more mapmaker's values? than one person, how does it depict Otial4 the relationships between them? What do you think each artist was trying to accomplish by depicting Columbus? What does each portrait tell us about the artist's attitude toward Columbus? To what extent is the artist's role similar to that of ? Why does each age "repaint" Columbus? Genoa as it appeared in the fifteenth century. 4 To give students a grasp of the interplay between Asian, Arab, 2 China and the had both African, European, and American the means and the opportunity to sail cultures in Columbus's time, divide across the ocean to the Americas (just students into five groups representing as the Mayan Empire had the naviga- OcaUtt+ each of these world . Ask tional know-how to sail east). What The "T-0" snap, published as late as 1472, each group to research the principal motives did the Europeans have that was bawd on the notion that Jerusalem lay at the events and developments in that the Chinese and the Arabs did not? buersection qf theT. culture from 1450 to 1550. Have each team present its findings in the form of 3 Europe gained access to enormous 2 To trace the evolution of our a timeline. Pos the timelines across wealth as a result of Columbus's conception of the world, divide the the blackboard and have students voyages. What did this new wealth class into teams. Ask each team to discuss how each culture's history allow Europe to do? How did it study a particular map of the world. interacted with the others. change Europe's role in the world? Examples of different types of maps include the medieval T-0 map, maps 5 Help students appreciate the 4 Technology pioneered by the by Ptolemy and Martin Behaini, the historical setting for Columbus's Chinese played a critical role in standard Mercator projection, the voyages as well as their lasting impact. Europe's evolution. How did the Robertson projection, the new Peters The National Council for the Social compass, gunpowder, paper, and projection, and maps that reflect Studies published a position statement printing contribute to Columbus's about the Columbian Quincentenary enterprise? To what extent did in October 1991 (included on pages Columbus owe his success to the 30-31). Copy the seven statements achievements of other cultures? that the NCSS has highlighted as important to a basic understanding of this period, and have students choose

5 An IdeaTakes Shape

This episode traces the development of Columbus's dream.The program recounts the reconstruc- tion by the of the Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria. It follows Columbus to Portugal, where he spent years honing his skills as a sailor and mapmaker and gathering evidence to support his growing conviction that he could reach the by sailing west.The episode details his long battle to win first Portuguese, then Spanish sponsorship for such an expedition, and depicts the Spanish monarchs' struggle to centralize their power through the , the , and the expulsion of the Jews.

Inbuilding the replica vessels, traditional methods were used as much as possible. A 3,000B.C. 132-35A.D. A Japanese fishing Jews fleeing Roman expedition is blown off may have course and lands ir . Who's on First? sailed to the Americas. Evidence: Pottery fragments Evidence: Hebrew inscrip- Christopher Columbus was not the first outsider to reach the unearthed there are remark- tions similar to those on Americas. Indeed, some historians and archaeologists speculate that ably similar to pots made ancient coins are found in peoples from around the world may have arrived in the Americas on the Japanese island of a Tennessee burial mound. as far back as 3,000 B.c. Kyushu. 0:0 1000A.D. 458A.D. Leif Ericsson established The Buddhist a colony in North America Hui-Shen sailed from but abandoned it in the China on an evangelical face of Native American mission. He returned 40 resistance. Evidence: years later and described Archaeological remains of in detail his travels in a a Viking settlement have fabulous land that could been unearthed in New- possibly have been the west foundland; the venture was coast of the recorded in oral . and . Evidence: Traces of Buddhist thought and are found in many Central and South American cultures. 6 9 MI COPY AVAILABLE Activities slaves, cloth, figs, salt, copper, , and Discussion Questions 1 Have students test their knowledge porcelain. Have them exchange goods 1 What aspeas of Columbus's about Columbus by distributing the along overland and sea trade routes. personality contributed to his success? quiz on page 19, Test Your Colum- Ask what would happen if any of Which characteristics got him into bus IQ. Then have students correct these routes were cut off. trouble? their quizzes as they watch the series (or distribute the answers on page 32). 4 If the Americas had not existed, 2 Why did Portugal refuse to sponsor Columbus would have starved long Columbus's expedition? Why did before he ever reached Asia. The land Spain consent? What motivates mass of Asia was not nearly as large as to sponsor explorations and he thought, and the circumference of build ? the globe was not nearly as small. Students familiar with geometry can 3 On what grounds did Ferdinand attempt to correct Columbus's and Isabella refuse Columbus's calculation by using the same method proposal the first time? the second? the ancient used. Based on the evidence they had, what In the third century B.C., the decision would you have made in philosopher Eratosthenes was the first their place, and why? person to calculate the circumference of the earth. The only information he Co lumbus's first voyage is shown in red. The used was that at noon on a given day small arrows represent the major wind currents, the sun cast no shadow from a stick whik the large arrows indicate ocean currents. placed in the earth at the city of Syene, while at the same time on the 2 To help students learn about the same day in Alexandria, 500 miles wind patterns and ocean currents that away, the sun's rays struck the stick at helped Columbus sail west, have them a 7° angle. (See diagram.) Ask students form groups to study specific latitudes how he could deduce from this that in the Northern and Southern Hemi- the earth was round. (The two sticks spheres. Have students tape arrows on were not parallel, so the surface of the a globe to show wind currents in their earth must be curved.) See if they can group's . Ask them to describe figure out how he calculated the any patterns that they notice. How did circumference of the earth. (Accord- wind currents such as trade winds and ing to basic geometry, if two parallel monsoons affect patterns of explora- straight lines are transected by a third Thisffieenth-century gold coin depicts Ferdinand and Isabella. tion, trade, and settlement? line, the alternate interior angles are Students can follow up by equal angleBequals angleA.If the 4 What were the motives for expel- researching ocean currents. Have shadow length in Alexandria is 7°, ling the Jews and later the from them tape arrows on the globe to Syene must therefore be 7° away on Spain? How might the decision to indicate these currents, and then the circumference of the Earth. Seven sponsor Columbus's expedition have discuss how ocean and wind currents degrees is about I /50 of 360°. If the reinforced these goals? affect the weather in their region. distance between Alexandria and Syene is 500 miles, 500 miles x = 5 At the time of Columbus's journey, 3 Students can learn about fifteenth- 25,000 miles.) Eui ope was a collection of fragmented century trade networks by studying ani shifting kingdoms. How did his individual European, Asian, or African enterprise contribute to the formation cities. Assign each student a city and Parallel Stin Ikays of the modern -? have him or her research the goods that were traded there, where they came from, and where they went. Then have students use chalk to sketch out a map on the floor or outdoors on blacktop and locate their city on it. (To make a giant map, sketch a grid over a small outline map and then make a large grid on the floor. Copy the map onto the large grid square by square.) Use props to represent important fifteenth-century commodities such as spices, gold, 7 1 0 3 The Crossing

Fhis episode follows a modern crew's reenactment of Columbus's first voyage, on replicas of his three ships.The program documents the assembly of Columbus's fleet and crew, and demonstrates the navigational instruments and techniques used by European mariners. It contrasts the knowledge and technology available to modern sailors with the well-honed skills and practiced eye of fifteenth-century navigators.The episode also explores the pivotal role of Martin Alonso Pinzón, who brought an experienced crew, navigational expertise, and some say secret information to the enterprise. Drawing on Columbus's own log of the journey, the program captures the bravery, doubts, determination, and frustration of sailing into the unknown.

Borrowed Tools compass Many of the navigational The use of a magnetized Mstrantersu and innovations needle to show direction that made the European was pioneered by the explorations of Columbus's Chinese around 1000 era possible were the products Arab navigators brought of ancient or non-European the invention to Europe cultures. in the late l 300s.

astrolabe A metal disk used to deter- 1 mine lafitude, it was invented

by Greek astronomers 2001), years ago.

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lateen sail This triangular sail, devel- oped by the Arabs. allowed ships to sail into the wind. thus ensuring that explorers quadrant could return home. The forerunner of the modern sextant, it was based on an Arab instrument called the kamal.

sternpost rudder Europeans adopted this Chinese invention after noticing that Arab . modeled on the Chinese, were far more maneuver- able than European crafts Thr modern MP OH the with rudders mounted replica vessels get a of 461 on the side. fifteenth-century manual labor.

8 BIM COPY AVAILABIE Activities choose to read nonfiction accounts of Discussion Questions 1 Students can get a critical perspec- more recent journeys, such as Thor 1 What were some of the challenges tive on Columbus's motives by Heyerdahl'sKon-Tiki.Ask them to Columbus faced in preparing for his planning their own fifteenth-century prepare brief oral reports and have the voyage west? What challenges did the expedition. Ask them to decide the class compare different accounts. Why modern crew fiice in retracing his purpose of their expedition trade, do sailors pit themse l. es against the course? Compare the two. exploration, proselytizing, conquest, sea? What common themes tend to arise in the literature of sailing (such as 2 Compare Columbus's and Pinzdn's authority and justice, superstition and contributions to the enterprise. To , boredom and suffering, or what extent was Columbus's enter- alienation)? Why is a sea voyage such a prise an individual achievement? To rich setting for a novel? what extent should the credit be shared, and with whom? Why does 3 Students can deepen their under- our culture so often attribute achieve- standing of Columbus and his times by ments to individual "heroes"? finding out more about the women in his life and the role they played in his enterprise. Working in pairs or groups, students can research women such as his first , Felipa Moniz, who brought him contacts with the "NO nobility; his mother-in-, who helpcd him obtain navigational charts; his mistress, Marquise de Moya, who arranged his meeting with the Queen; ,141111hilL his common-law wife, Beatrice, who supported him financially; and Queen Because many of the ship's provisions were carried Isabella and Beatrice de Bobadilla, in wooden casks, the cooper, or barrelmaker, was who helped sponsor his expeditions. a valued crew member. Have students prepare a display with diplomacy and select their crew portraits of the women and descrip- accordingly. What skills would be tions of their contributions. What do needed for any voyage? What skills we know about these women? What would be needed specifically for their 't we know? What would we expedition's purposes? Then ask know about them if they hadn't students to review Columbus's crew played a role in Columbus's life? What can we learn from them about the role Afortin Alonso Pinzon was instrumental in list. (Columbus brought 87 men, helping to enlist the crewftr the first voyage by of women in Spanish and Portuguese including caulkers, coopers, carpen- adding credibility to the enterpnse. ters, surgeons, an interpreter who culture, and in the heroic endeavors knew Hebrew and Arabic, and an usually attributed to men? 3 Though sailors today have better assayer.) Who did Columbus include maps and instruments, most have lost that ti,,y may have overlooked? 4 To help students appreciate how theojo marinero the mariner's eye (They might forget about caulkers to many different peoples lived in the that can detect minute differences in mend the wooden boats' constant Western hemisphere before Colum- wind and ocean currents. In what leaks, coopers to repair battered bus, photocopy and distribute ways can technology bring us closer to supply barrels, or an assayer to value Mesoamerican Cultures on page ? In what ways does it take us gold.) What positions did Columbus 20. Alone or in pairs, have students further away? What are other ex- omit, aacl why? (There were no follow the instructions on the sheet. amples of lost knowledge? cooks, soldiers, or .) What You could also assign students differ- does the composition of the crew say ent cultures to research, instead of 4 What element of the unknown about the journey's purpose? letting them choose, to make sure all today do you see as analogous to the the cultures are Lovered. Then have barrier posed by the Ocean Sea in 2 To get a feel for daily life on board students share their findings with the 1492? If someone were assembling an a sailing vessel, have students read class. Overall, how did these groups expedition to cross this frontier, fictional accounts of sea voyages, such relate to each other? What kind of would you join? Why or why not? relationship did each group establish asTwo Years Before the Mast, Moby What factors might make a person Dick, Billy Budd, The Middle Passage, with the Europeans? What were the more willing to join today than 500 Mutiny on theBounty, orThe Rime of consequences for them? What, aspects years ago, or vice versa? the Ancient Mariner.Others may of these cultures still remain? 9 12 4 Worlds Found and Lost

This episode retraces Columbus's travels through from the location of his first landfall (still the subject of controversy) to the establishment of the first Spanish settlement at La Navidad and the perilous return home. Archaeologists sift through relics of the Spanish presence: trading beads, crosses serving as landmarks, abandoned gold mines, evidence of the spread of deadly diseases among the native population. Columbus's log reveals his deep-seated ambivalence toward the inhabitants of this unknown land, and his obsession with obtaining gold.

A World in Words hurricane Although the - from Yuracan, an Arawak speaking people disappeared god, who shook the from the earth within a few branches of trees of their encounter with Columbus, some of their language lives on. Here are some Arawak words that have been incorporated into the . barbecue an Arawak method of cooking iguana the Arawak word for lizard

canoe from "canoa," a made from a single piece of timber from "taboca," the Y-shaped pipe in which the plant was smoked

hammock the swinging bed that became essential equipment for European sailors

Thebeach at San Salvador is believed by many to be the site of the.first encounter.

13 10 BUT COPY AVAILABLE Activities 3 History is said to be written by the Discussion Questions 1 Columbus's own words reveal a lot winners, but sometimes it isn't written 1 Why did Columbus continue to about his motivations as well as those at all. Students can explore the differ- believe he had reached the Indies? of his benefactors. Photocopy and ent ways pictures depict history by What evidence supported his belief? distribute Columbus's Letter on discussing the Reading Pictures What evidence contradicted it? page 21. Although he addressed the handout on page 22. What are the letter to a high court official, he different perspectives represented by 2 How do written sources and obviously hoped Ferdinand and the two pictures? What does each archaeological evidence complement Isabella would see it. What does this picture imply about the goals of each other in re-creating Columbus's letter tell us about the man and his Europeans in Mexico? Is one more journey? What can each reveal that accurate? How do you decide? the other cannot? Why?

4 Students can explore and compare 3 What right did Columbus have to arguments used for and against Indian take possession of the lands he arrived and African slavery during the in? Were his actions consistent with fifteenth and nineteenth centuries by his declared mission? What would you participating in two round-table have done in his place? discussions. Prepare slips of paper to assign each student to a historical figure, such as Isabella, Columbus, Las Casas, SepUlveda, Montesinos, and Cortes; male and female Indian slaves and slave owners should also be represented. Hand these slips out to half the class. Then prepare a second batch of slips with the names of pro- and anti-slavery activists from the An idealized view of Columbus's reception by nineteenth century. These could Ferdinand and Isabella. include William Lloyd Garrison, Abraham Lincoln, Harriet Tubman, values? What does it reveal about what Daniel Webster, Henry Clay, So- Ferdinand and Isabella wanted him to journer Truth, Frederick Douglass, accomplish? What does he exaggerate, and the Grimke sisters, as well as and why? What is his attitude toward slaves, slave owners, and white and the people he encountered? To what African slave traders. Distribute these extent are Columbus's views and slips to the remaining half of the class. values contradictory? How accurate a Ask each student to become document is a letter that was intended familiar with the position held by the as a report to a benefactor? person whose name they drew, and to represent him or her in a debate. Have 2 Students can explore the role of each group debate the moral, eco- An illustration from the Basel edition of Columbus's letter to Luis de Santangel. perspective in history and journal- nomic, and political arguments used to ism by staging a mock press justify slavery during their period. conference. Designate one student to 4 Archaeologicai and documentary Then have the class as a whole com- evidence show that Leif Ericsson represent Columbus; have the rest of pare the two centuries. How did the the students draw slips of paper settled in the Americas centuries fifteenth-century Spanish and the before Columbus. Why is Columbus's assigning them to a newspaper from a nineteenth-century Americans define particular city (such as the arrival considered more important by equality? How dirt their religious most people? Times, the Lisbon Leader, the Inca values shape their attitudes toward Inkwell, or the Palos Post). Have the slavery? How did the arguments for "reporters" interview Columbus, 5 How does the language historians and against slavery differ across use words like "New World" and asking questions that reflect the historical periods, and why? interests of their readers, and write "discovery" shape our perspective stories based on his answers. Post the on events? What are some other articles and compare the results. words we might use to tell the story from a different perspective?

MT COPY UNABLE = 11 14 5 The Sword and the Cross

As the program opens, Columbus is leading 17 ships and 1,200 colonists to settle on . The ill-fated second journey is a microcosm of the conquest, including the desperate search for gold, the recourse to brutality, and the enslavement of native peoples.The writings of Bartolome de Las Casas, the "defender of the Indians," frame the conflict between the Church, sworn to protect its converts, and the , who seek only to exploit them.The episode also discusses the role of another invader European diseases in the defeat of native populations, and in their conversion to Christianity. Finally, the synthesis of the two races and the creation of new forms of religious expression are explored, as part of the evolving legacy of Columbus.

American Civilizations In this Kemmeltneyer From the time the first wave paint*ofthe.tirsi of Asian immigrants crossed encounter, Columbus is the as much as accompanied by both soldiers 40,000 years ago, the and priests. Americas have been home to a rich variety of nations, communities, cultures, and Moundbuilders languages. In some parts of (1000u.c.-conquest) North America, bands of Successive, related civiliza- .tewer than 50 people roamed tions built ceremonial to gather food; in others, mounds huge enough to cities of up to 30,000 Bering Strait nval the Pyramids of inhabitants flourished. In throughout the Central and South America, River valley and along Anasazi (700-1300 A ) a number of great empires The engineeringskill of many of its tributaries. rose and fell. Here's a these ancestor% of the Pueblo sampling of pre-Coluinbian Ohnec (1500-500u.c.) is apparent in the multistot) cultures. The "mother culture" of apartments they constructed arose 150 in the cliffs of and en/6. Colorado. years before the reign of Tutankhamen in Egypt. Aztec (1325conquest) Olmec ideas, art, and Originally mercenaries, the customs spread throughout conquered much of Central America. what is now Mexico. Maya (300-)0(iAm.) exacting tribute ti-om the The intellectuai foundations Inca (140o-conquest) cities and towns surrounding of Smith and Central With an empire larger than their capital, Tenochtitlan. Amenc iii civilizations were the Ming or Ottoman laid by Mayan astronomers, empires. the Inca used arch.tects. philosophers, and thousands of miles of paved mathematicians. highways and suspension bridges to maintain cmmminications throughout much of South America. 15 BEV COPY AVAILABLE Activities the colonists have with the mother skeletons displayed in museums. 1Students can explore the collision country? How did the Native Ameri- Students can also write to Native between Native American and cans approach the settlers, and how American rights organizations (see European cultures by comparing the did the settlers respond? After each Resources) for information about their images of women in their . group presents its results, have students attitudes toward the Quincentenary, discuss the similarities and differences and post the results. among the three. How did religious, social, or economic factors shape Discussion Questions Native AmericanEuropean relations? 1 What factors enabled the greatly outnumbered Spanish to conquer the 3 To explore the legacy of colonial- native population so easily? ism in America, students can compare the ethnic and linguistic 2 What was the relationship between composition of different countries in Christianity and the conquest? Central and South America and the Caribbean. First, to get a sense of 3 What arguments were used to students', preconceptions, have them oppose the enslavement of the native describe the area. What kind of people population? What assumptions are live there? How are the Caribbean. these arguments based on? What Central American, and South Ameri- arguments would you make today that can countries similar? How are they the Spaniards did not consider? different? Then, working individually or in pairs, students can study the 4 The exploration and of population of a particular country the Americas by the Europeans led to (such as , , , the collision of American, African, and While the Virgin of Guadalupe, patron saint of , or ). What propor- European cultures. What survives and Mexico, is always depicted with Christian tion of the population is Indian? what is lost in this synthesis of cul- imagery, much of her cult of devotion draws on pre-Christian elements. Out of this amalgam mestizo? of African origin? of Euro- tures? Who benefits from the changes? of belicf, she has emerged as the patroness of a pean background? What is the domi- new race. nant language and religion? 5 The Aztecs were a warlike people After presenting their findings in who practiced brutal rituals against Have students research goddesses in brief oral reports, have students display their neighbors and enemies. Re- the Maya, Inca, and Aztec religions, as them graphically on a map for discus- cently, increased emphasis has been well as the Virgin Mary and female sion. What do these countries have in placed on the brutality of the Span- saints. Examples might include Ixchel, common? What are some of the iards against the native peoples they the ancient Mayan moon goddess; differences between them? How did encountered. Do we judge the Coatlicue, the terrifying Aztec goddess the legacy of conquest and brutality of the Europeans more of love and sin; or the Coi-n Mothers evolve differently in different coun- harshly than that of the Aztecs? What of the Inca. To what exter t did the tries? How do students' findings differ do our attitudes reveal about how we worship of female goddess=n reflect from their preconceptions? view ? women's power or status in these cultures? In what ways did they 4 Although some native cultures were reinforce stereotyped roles for wiped out as a result of European women? How did the imposition of exploration and conquest, many Christianity affect cultural stereotypes survived and continue to fight for of women? political and cultural autonomy. Students can explore current issues 2 Have students study three different affecting Native Americans by creating patterns of colonization by dividing a bulletin board display of newspaper into three groups to look at the clippings, magazine articles, position Spanish, English, and French settle- papers, and leaflets. Issues may include ments at Isabela, Plymouth, and Native American efforts to prevent . What kinds of settlers came environmentally damaging develop- and why? What was the foundation of inent projects, to protect traditional the economy? What relationship did lands, to seek the enforcement of legal A Tlaxcalan codex shows native archers , to protest racist imagery in encountering something no Indian had seen bcfore sports and in the media, and to force warriors on horseback. the reburial of Native American 6 The Columbian Exchange

Opening with Columbus's third voyage his first glimpse of mainland America this episode explores the intermingling of peoples, cultures, animals, and foods that followed in Columbus's wake. It documents the impact of the horse on Native American culture, the role of the in spurring Irish immigration to the United States, the relationship between sugar and slavery, and the contribution of corn and cassava to the African diet. In doing so, it encourages viewers to consider the ways in which the Columbian encounter continues to transform our lives. ..2

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Foods for Thought Europe It's hard to imagine Italian cuisine without beef, , tomatoes, African soups without cassava meal, or lamb, wheat, Asia an American restaurant without hamburgers. honey, union. rice,(ea, America Here are some foods that.four continents lettuce, pear. spices, , potato, contributed to our diet. cabbage, olive soybean, ,COM, coconut, greenbean, . , , cassava, peach pepper, ..airc ''.15iPliiinally chili pepper, . APAPAWKIWOr vanilla, peanut, .71 , _ pineapple, . r -a .i&IF.,,..... k _ blueberry . , PA"7=6;441t1 . .r.- , ' r 11166 k 41 Lit4C Aeka In-AIR -eballt.. ," AI.S. , , V' W "- . Ire . -11 aAfrica It.-'4''' '! Plria Mk . ..i4)&gb Mk RUM MItici-reZ iialkiliTfmiliZiSkl banana, rice. ---.. WAS/ millet. plantain, ,A111111EMaSkiffillif/ , okra. melegueta Tik.- VIELIM1V--711,11MAINEFAry. . pepper. WIIIMPLNIOM IIIMiLdillifileiFACC-014FAIENilgrAMity sorghum, -43a;1161/1141;81513giersirlegrAidaWAIWOMF coffee w....414-464.%-ilfA-t-K-W IEST COPY AVAILABLE 1 4 Activities 3 Students can explore the impact of Discussion Questions 1 To help them grasp some of the slavery on the history and culture of 1 What are five ways that the factors that encourage people to the United States by preparing a Columbian exchange of crops, migrate from one place to another, multimedia display. Activities might products, and people is reflected in have students draw a three- include preparing exhibits on the your daily life? tree, showing where their Middle Passage; the daily life of urban, parents, maternal and paternal grand- domestic, or plantation slaves; the parents, and great-grandparents were economics and envirok,mental impact born. Have them interview their of slave-based ; the dynam- A to discover what led them to ics of slave trading; and the impact of move from one country or region to the slave trade on African civilizations. another (or to stay put). Students can Some students might prepare and post use maps to mark the routes their a series of one-page reports describing families took to your community. slavery in other cultures: the ancient Students can build on this Greeks, West Africans, medieval From planting through harvest through processing exercise by interviewing more recent Egyptians, Aztecs, and Native Ameri- in the hellish environment of the sugarhouse, immigrants in your community. cans of the Northwest. Others might sugarcane exacted a frightful toll in lives. Students can write up each person's collect and display visual images 2 How did the transfer of food crops story ar...! discuss the forces that drew depicting the slave experience, or affect the relative demographic different groups of people to these perform dramatic readings from oral strengths of Europe, Africa, and the shores at different times, the reception histories of former slaves. They might Americas? What impact did popula- that greeted them, and how they met re-enact the religious, legal, and tion change have on the economy in the challenges they faced here. political debates over slavery, or perform or tape songs of resistance. each case?

4 Students can explore the cultural 3 Why was slavery so closely con- of the United States by nected with crops such as sugar, tracing the roots of American music. tobacco, and ? How did the Working individually or in groups, economic conditions of life in the students can choose a particular kind Americas shape the institution of slavery? How did the nature of slavery of American music jazz, rock, blues, gospel, folk, country, rap, Latin, in the Americas shape the ideology of or American classical composers ? and prepare a presentation on its Cattle ranchers have extended the South origins and evolution. What cultures 4 In what ways d;d contact with American grasslands far beyond their original contributed to each musical ? Europe transform the natural environ- range, often by burning rain forests, as in this What makes each style uniquely ment of the Americas? To what extent Amazon Basin scene. can today's environmental problems American? be traced to the encounter between 2 Students can investigate the envi- the two cultures? ronmental consequences of the colonization of the Americas by 5 Do you agree with the idea that the preparing reports, posters, dioramas, United States is a "melting pot" in or other displays showing the impact which different ethnic groups are of economic development on the boiled into a common stock? How far environment. Divide the class into Alfilismxmiet can citizens of the United States go in small groups and have each choose a retaining an ethnic identity and still be topic such as the , mining, "American"? What does it mean to be cattle ranching, or plantations growing an American? sugar, tobacco, coffee, or cotton. Ask each group to make a presentation showing how producing each com- modity affected the soil, water, habitats, or population distribution in a particular area. What factors contrib- uted to environmental problems? How were these problems dealt with? American jazz musician Louis Armstrong What alternative solutions might have (1900-71). been possible?

15 18 In Search of Columbus

This episode follows Columbus on his fourth and final journey yet another search for the elusive sea route to Asia and examines the legacy he left to history. It discusses the realization by the Europeans of the of a new world. It describes how the discovery of silver in the Americas led to a new global economy, establishing Spain for a brief time as the center of European power. Interviews present a variety of perspectives on Columbus's enterprise even the controversy over his burial place underscores the ambiguity and uncertainty that surround the man and his deeds.

Commemorating Left Columbus Carnwal mummery in T he holiday that the United Mexico often reflectc States designates as Colum- an irreverent view of bus Day is not celebrated in thc Spanilli conquerors most 1...rinn American and their rehqion countries In those ccuntnes, October 12 is known as Dia de la Roza, and commemo- rates the heritage of Euro- pean and Amentan peoples and then synthesis into a new culture As the Colum- bus Quincentenary approach- , Below es. activists have proposed in renaming the holiday Columbus, Ohio '11 i IS z T5( ao tors%;__Li

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Day of Indian Dignity Day of Mourning Unity Day Day of the Ecosphere No holiday Celebrate Fmo years of Reflect on the human Commemorate the creation Honor the natural environ- Abolish any form of resistance and the survival of tragedies that followed in of one world and the ment that evolved from the commemoration; there is NativeAmerican cultures Columbus's wake. synthesis of global cultures 3oinnig of the two hemi- nothing to celebrate. and races achieved since spheres. and pledge to Columbus preserve it.

16 , 9 BEST COPY AVAILABLE Activities populations portrayed? Which charac- Discussion Questions 1 Photocopy and distribute the ters are given names? Which charac- 1 Why was the continent where Judging Columbus handout on page ters act, and which react? Whose Columbus landed named after 23. How do the various assessments of thoughts and feelings are readers asked ? Who deserves Columbus reflect the era and national- to empathize with? What do the more credit, the person who makes a ity of the writer? Is any one assessment pictures show? What don't they show? discovery or the person who grasps its correct? How can you decide? From whose point of view is the story significance? told? Do you agree or disagree with 2 Explore this year's celebration of the interpretation? Why? To follow 2 Why is Columbus Day celebrated the Columbus Quincentenary by up, the class could write a play about so differently in North America than creating a bulletin board display of the first encounter and perform it for in ? columns, clippings, and political younger students. cartoons related to Columbus's 3 In your opinion, was Columbus a voyage. Students can add to the -.1.41t1intit hero? a villain? something in between? collection by writing to the embassies Is it fair to apply contemporary of various countries and to representa- standards in judging his behavior? tives of political or ethnic organiza- Why or why not? tions (see Resources) to ask how they plan to observe Columbus Day 1992. 4 Why do American history text- Follow up by discussing the books usually start with Columbus? If alternative holidays listed on the facing you were writing a textbook, where page. Have students vote on what would you start? they think is the appropriate way to observe October 12. Or have groups Remnants from the Columbian World Exposition 1893: a pairing of the Father of his Country with 5 Suppose you were to plan an make greeting cards for a new Octo- its Genoese Godfather. expedition seeking life on other ber 12 holiday. planets. What lessons would you learn 5 Have students explore how our idea from Columbus's voyages? 3 Help students gain a new perspec- of heroism shapes and is shaped by our tive on the legacy of Columbus. interpretation of history. Ask each Photocopy and distribute the article, student to name a man or woman Through the Looking Glass, on who is considered by some to be a pages 24-25. In this article, a fictitious hero, and to read a variety of accounts "European Rights" activist looks at that give different perspectives on that the legacy of the Aztec conquest of individual. Have the student then Europe 500 years before. Does this write an essay stating whether that article help students better appreciate person deserves to be considered a the Native American perspective on hero, and why. To whom is this the Quincentenary? Is this article person a hero? To what extent can this more or less effective than a straight- person claim sole credit for his or her forward editorial as a way of empha- accomplishments? What standards sizing this perspective? Why? should we use in proclaiming some- one a hero? How might these stan- 4 To help students look critically at dards change over time? the way history is taught, divide them into groups and have each group read 6 What were the consequences of and critique a children's book about Columbus's journey, and how do they Columbus. Examples might include affect us today? To answer these Columbusby Ingri and Edgar Parin questions, have students make a large D'Aulaire;Where Do You Think You're chart on the blackboard, with columns Going, Christopher Columbus?by Jean The space shuttle Columbia sails on yet another for Europe, America, and Africa. Have human quest .1i)r knowledge, profit, and glory. Fritz;Christopher Columbusby Lino students brainstorm a list of conse- Monchieri; orChristopher Columbus: quences of Columbus's expedition. of the Ocean Seaby Mary List each consequence at the left of the Osborne. Students might also critique chart, and ask students to decide elementary or junior high school whether it had a positive or negative textbooks. How is Columbus por- impact on each of the three conti- trayed? How are the indigenous nents. At the end, ask them to discuss how the pluses and minuses add up.

1720 DIST COPY NAME Unit 1: Columbus's World Student Activity The Faces of Columbus

Over the past 500 years, scores of artists have portrayed Columbus. Look at the selection of portraits below.What does each artist's depiction of Cc lumbus say about the artist and the era? What kind of person does Columbus seem to be in each picture?What is the relationship between Columbus and the other people in the picture? From what you know about Columbus, is this a realistic depiction? What does each portrait tell us about the artist's attitude toward Columbus? Why do you think so many artists have chosen him as a subject?

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In this formal domestic scene, Columbus is shown with his mistress Beatrice dc Harana and Ins sons Diego and Ferdinand.

Drawing by Handelsman; © 1992 The New Yorker Magazine, Inc "We';e thaucht and thought, but we're at a loss about what to call oursehrs. Ideas?" The Last Moments of Christopher Columbus, Luigi Sciallero, late 18 21We AVAILABLE Unit 2: An Idea Takes Shape Student Activity Test Your Columbus IQ

What many of us know about Christopher Columbus is at best romanticized, at worst inaccurate and incomplete.The circumstances that led to his voyages across the Atlantic, and theconse- quences of the meetings of two worlds, offer a wealth of fascinating facts.Test your Columbus IQ with the quiz below.

1 Many scholars believed the world 8 By transporting plants and animals was round before Columbus set between the and the sail. True or false? New World, Columbus changed forever the destinies of the people 2 Christopher Columbus was of North and South America, a Genoese Africa, and Europe. Match up the b Castilian commodity with its description. c Portuguese d French 1 native to South America; helped fuel the 3 October 12 is / Caribbean in origin; now a staple a Columbus's birthday of African diet b the day Columbus set sail from 3 unknown to Indians before the Spain sixteenth century c the day Columbus landed at San 4 unknown to Europeans before Salvador the fifteenth century d the day Columbus returned to 5 grown by Aztecs; adopted by Italians Spain 6 caused more 4 As Columbus sailed through the than any other crop Caribbean and along the coast of a tomato South America, he gave places b sugar cane names that reflected his religious 5 Many words from the native cpotato faith and his loyalty to his Spanish languages of the Caribbean and d horses patrons. Match the location with South America have assimilated ecassava the appropriate description: into English. Which one of the f tobacco following familiar words did not 1 Santa Maria was wrecked here on December 25, 1492 originate in the Caribbean or South 9 Shortly after Columbus's first 2 Columbus's first landfall America? voyage, the lands he had claimed 3 on his third voyage, Columbus a barbecue were divided between Spain and saw three hills on this island b canoe Portugal. Who made this division? c calypso 4 Dominicans and Haitians call it a Pope Alexander VI home d hurricane b the Spanish 5 patron of those fighting to e tobacco c the Portuguese monarch expand f tomato d Christopher Columbus 6 Columbus sighted this island on the Sabbath 6 Who won the race to reach the 10 During the height of colonization, Orient from Europe by sea? approximately how many Africans aDominica a Christopher Columbus were brought to the Caribbean Trinidad b each year to work on plantations? Santa Maria de Guadalupe c Marco Polo a1,200 San Salvador d b 5,000 Navidad c 7,500 fHispaniola 7 Who controlled the larger empire? d 13,000 a Charles V b Montezuma II

1922 Unit 3: The Crossing Student Activity Mesoamerican Cultures

This map illustrates the major Mesoamerican and Caribbean tribes that existed in the late fifteenth century. At that time in the Americas, there were millions of NativeAmericans, speaking thou- sands of distinct languages. How many names are you familiar with? Choose five cultures you know little or nothing about and see what you can find out. What was their culture like? What was their relationship to neighboring tribes and tothe Europeans? If you couldn't find out any- thing about certain groups, why do you think that is? If so many groups existed, why do you think the Europeans felt they could claim the lands for Spain?

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23 sESTCOpyilliAllIABU Unit 4: Worlds Found and Lost Student Activity Columbus's Letter

On February 15,1493, Columbus wrote a condensed account of his first voyage toa high official of the Kingdom of Aragon.The letter was published all over Europe.The excerpts below tell of Columbus's first impressions of the new land.What conclusions can you draw about Columbus's motivations and those of his benefactors? Where do you think he is exaggerating, and for what purpose? What do you think he hopes to gain through this letter? What do you find most surpris- ing about his attitude?

Sir: ... There I found very many islands, filled for the mines ofgold and for all trade as well with with innumerable people, and 1 have taken the mainland here as with that there, belonging to possession of them all for their , done the Grand Khan, where will be great trade and by proclamation and with the royal standard profit.... urOrled, and no opposition was offered to me.... In conclusion,...their Highnesses can see that 1 Espanola is a marvel.... The harbors of the sea will give them as much gold as they may need, if here are such as cannot be believed to exist unless their Highnesses will render me very slight they have been seen, and so with the rivers, many assistance; moreover, and cotton, as much as and great, and ofgood water, the majority of their Highnesses shall command; and mastic, as which contain gold.... much as they shall to be shipped and which, up to now, has been found only in ... The people of this island and of all the other and aloe wood, as much as they shall order to be islands which I have found and of which 1 have shipped, and slaves, as many as they shall order information, all go naked, men and women, as to be shipped and who will be from the idola- their mothers bore them._ They refuse nothing tors.... that they possess, if it be asked of them; on the contrary, they invite any one to share it and Since Our Redeemer has given the victory to our display as much love as if they would give their most illustrious King and Queen, ... for this all hearts.... I gave them a thousand handsome Christendom ought to feel delight and make great things... in order that they might conceive feasts and give solemn thanks to the Holy affection for us and, more than that, might Trinity, with many solemn prayers for the great become Christians and be inclined to the love and exaltation which they shall have in the turning of service of Your Highnesses and of the whole so many peoples to our holy faith, and afterwards Castilian nation, and strive to collect and give us for the temporal benefits, because not only Spain of the things which they have in abundance and but all Christendom will have hence refreshment which are necessary to us.... and gain.

1 have taken possession of all for their Highnesses, and all are more richly endowed than . 1 know how or am able to say, andhold all for '8. A their Highnesses, so that they may dispose of them as they do of the kingdoms of Castile and MY as absolutely. But especially, in Espanola, in the situation most convenient and in the best position Af30 F.EgEN.S/

77te cryptic signature of Christopher Columbus.

(Excerptedfrom The Journal of-Christopher Columbus,translated by Cecil Jane. New York: Clarkson N. Potter, Inc., 1960, pp. 191-201.)

21 Unit 4:Worlds Found and Lost Student Activity Reading Pictures

These two pictures represent two very different perspectives.The top illustration is from an Aztec codex or book. It depicts their treatment at the hands of theEuropeans.The bottom represents the European perspective.What do the two pictures imply is the Europeans' goal in Mexico? How do you decide which one is correct? Is it possible that both are true in the minds of the artists and their cultures?

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BEST Y AVA 25 Unit 7: In Search of Columbus: Student Activity judging Columbus

Many things have been said about Columbus in the 500years since his first voyage. Recently Columbus has received more bad press than good. Howcan we view history constructively, so that we learn from it? How dowe understand the actions of historical figures within the context of their own time? Is it appropriate forus to judge the past by our own moral code? Answer these questions on a separate sheet of paper: 1. How do the variousassessments of Columbus reflect the era and nationality of the writer? Is any one assessment correct? 2. How wouldyou describe the legacy of Columbus in your own words?

"The greatest event since the creation of the "Here was a man greedy in large ways and in small world (excluding the incarnation and death of Him who ways to the point where he took for himself the reward for created it) is the discovery of the Indies." first sighting land from the Pinta lookout. Cruel inpetty Francisco Lopez de Goinara things, as when he set a dying monkey with twopaws cut off Historia .qeneral de las , 1552 to fight a wild pig; cruel on a continental scale, as when he set in motion what de Las Casas called 'the beginning of the "The discovery of America, and that of a passage bloody trail of conquest across the Americas." to the by the , are the two Hans Komng greatest and most important events recorded in the Cslutnbus: His Enterpnse, 1976 history of mankind." Adam smith "Columbus is above all the figure with whom the The Wealth of Nations, 1776 Modern Age the age by which we may delineate these past five hundred years properly begins, and in tris character "He might have been an unselfish promoter as in his exploits we are given an extraordinary insight of geographical science; he proved a rabid seeker for gold and into the patterns that shaped the age at its start and still for the a viceroyalty. He might have won converts to the fold of most part shape it today." Christ by the kindness of his spirit; he gained the Kirkpatrick Sale execrations of the good angels. He might, like Las Casas, have The Conquest of Paradise, 1991 rebuked the fiendishness of his contemporaries; he set them an example of perverted belief." "He represents the worst of his era. _JustinWinsor We should honor those who rise above their times." Columbus biographer. 1891 Jack Weatherthrd Indian Givers, 1988 "He had his faults and defects, but they were largely the defects of the qualities that made him great his "What are Ithej positive aspects of the Columbus indomitable will, his superb faith in God and in hisown legacy? If you're talking about the horse, yeah,we like the mission as the Christ-bearer to land, *o;vond the horse. Indians raised the use of the horse toa high seas, his stubborn persistence despite :ieglect, poverty, and military art. Was that a good result of that invasion? Yes. Is it discouragement. But there Wa no flaw, no Cark side something we would have traded for themany Indian peoples to the most outstanding and essential of all his qualities who are no longer here because of that invasion? No." his seamanship." Suzan Shown Harjo Samuel Eliot Monson Director, Morning Star Foundation, 1991 Christopher Columbus, Mariner, 1942

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23 ^G Unit 7: In Search of Columbus Student Activity Through the Looking Glass

To fully appreciate the implications of historical events, students of history are often advised to view events from different perspectives. But how can you really put yourself in someone else's shoes and understand how they feel? The article below offers one method turn the tables! The writer of this article asked the question:What would the world be like today if the Aztecs had crossed the Atlantic and conquered Europe instead of the other way around?

1,111at would the world be like today lithe .ferocious Coribs depicted in this picture had actually «mquered the Spaniards?

An open letterfrom European Rights Activist spirituality stolen, and our relatives enslaved and sacrificed. Wanblee Johnson That is hardly a history worth celebrating. In the Pre-Callicoatlian era, the Greeks, the Romans, the Egyptians, the Moors, and other of Five hundred years ago Callicoatl sailed across the the ruled great empires. They contrib- ocean in three Aztec boats and found a new uted much to the world, as is attested to by the great continent, a new Eastern Hemisphere, an event being temples and pyramids they left behind. They had detailed commemorated this year with great fanfare and celebration. knowledge of , law, agriculture, and religion. Every child knows the story: how Callicoatl convinced True, there were among them, and persecution of Montezuma II to support his journey, how the Aztec sailors those who did not follow the . But they were nearly despaired on the journey, how they "discovered" a no more oppressive than the empires of Montezuma Il or strange white-skinned race in the "New World." the Inca Tiipac Yupanki in the "Old World" 500 ycars ago. But that is only part of the story. On this anniversary, And, as in the Western Hemisphere, there were many tribal the record must be set straight. Callicoatl did not "discover" peoples still living in harmony with nature. this continent; he invaded it. It was already inhabited by Other explorers sailed to these shores, even some who many nations. Over the past five centuries, we. the native claimed to have arrived before Callicoatl: the Arawak, the peoples of Europe, have seen our natural resources and Beothuk, and the Lenni-Lenape. But it was the Aztec flag

27 of Anahuak and the Inca flag of Tawantinsuyo that were called them "conches" white on the outside, red on the first firmly planted in our lands. Soon thereafter, this land inside. was named Omequauh after another Aztec-sponsored Only about 25 years ago did our peoples start to reclaim explorer. The Aztecs and Incas conquered and divided up their European heritage. On my reservation, young people South and Central Omequauh the lands we call Africa, started learning the English language. We also began to Iberia, and the islands of the . Later, the communicate with native peoples in South and Central Dakota and the Ojibewa fought over and divided North Omequauh, some of whom actually form a majority in their Omequauh, my home continent, which we call "Europe." countries. Though they speak different colonial languages Some great European leaders forged alliances of knights (Nahuatl and Quechua), our concerns are similar. to resist the settlers, but our freedom fighters were never Reclaiming our cultures means learning from our unified enough to prevail. Some of our peoples the Irish, elders, and reading the great works of Chaucer and other Icelanders, Corsicans, Sardinians, and others were wiped ancient prophets. It means challenging stereotypes, such as out, their cultures lost to history. the view that all of our people wear of armor. It means you may know us as "Native Omequauhns," but we reinforcing our traditional governments, to counter the prefer to be called the "Original Europeans." We BCA councils which sold off so much of our land. Above are not one people but many. We speak many all, it means countering the despair on our reservations tongues, which you may call "dialects" but we prefer to the poverty, consumption of beer and chicha, and low self- equate with your languages. We worship under different esteem among native youth. religions that were outlawed until recently, and are ridi- The rebirth of our European cultures has also stimu- culed to this day as mere superstitions. The religion of my lated interest on the part of mainstream society. ancestors was known as "Christianity," and some of us Nowadays, some children playing "Warriors and still pray to a single god and his son. Knights" actually want to be the knights. But we also find Though we are commonly called "tribes," we have non-Europeans romanticizing our cultures, and trying to historically existed as nations, with our own borders, prov- usurp them in the same way they usurped our land. Some inces, and capitals. The capital of my ancestors, London, dress up like our holy priests and conduct the sacred cat- was as great in its time as Cuzco or Tenochtitlan, until it echism ceremony for the benefit of their own curiosity. We was sacked by the invaders. My people, the York band of don't appreciate seeing ethnic Dakota wearing powdered the English tribe, were once citizens of Yorkshire province wigs, or putting on ballroom dances. We roll our eyes (or county) in the English Nation (or England). Many of whenever one of these "wannabes" says his great-grand- our peoples are not called by their original names, but by mother was a Swedish princess. names that others have given them. The Krauts, for in- There was a time when our only response was passive stance, are more properly called Germans, or Deutsche in acceptance. But no more. Tbe European Wars are being their own language; the Frogs should be called French, or rekindled, as more nations defend the lands where our Francais in their own language. ancestors are buried. Many remember the armed confronta- ancestral land rights have been steadily whittled tions at the Long Fjord Norwegian Reservation two away. My , for instance, are decades ago, or at the Lake Balaton Hungarian Reservation scattered over 50 small reservations throughout two years ago. If our sovereignty is not recognized, these the0 island of Britain, and on the continental mainland where skirmishes are likely to continue. one-third of us were forcibly relocated a century ago. Most In the face of overwhelming odds the near-extinc- of the agreements we signed to guarantee our access to tion of our population, and the theft of our religions and natural resources on the lands we used to own were broken, lands we have survived. When you talk about "celebrat- and some lands were stolen outright. Today, some descen- ing" the arrival of Callicoatl, it sends a chill up our spines. dants of the settlers don't understand why we continue to Even Callicoatl's name, in the Nahuatl language, means exercise these rights. Some even tell us to go back to where "Serpent from the West." If you don't recognize that our we came from! people were already here when he arrived, you will never My people were forced into dependency after the be able to recognize that we are here, in front of you, today. warriors (whom we called the "Long Arrows") slaughtered (Zoltan Grossman, "Through the Looking Glass: An Open Letter from the sheep our main livelihood. Our children were sent European Rights Activist Wanblee Johnson," Report on the Americas. to schools run by the Bureau of Caucasian Affairs (BCA), December 1991. Volume XXV, Number 3, p. 38. R.eprinted by permission where they were forced to learn only Dakota, and beaten if of the North Amencan Congress on Latin America (NACLA). 475 they spoke English. They were given Dakota names to Riverside Drive, #454, New York. NY. 10115.) replace their own. Through the generations, many of our people began to look, dress, walk, and talk like the settlers. Some Europeans became so obedient to authority that we

25 ested Readings

Biographies Columbus, Christopher. The Journal of Lunenfeld, Marvin (ed.). 1492: Colon, Fernando. The Life of Admiral Christopher Columbus. Translated by Discovery', Invasion, Encounter. Souncs Christopher Columbus by ',is Son, Cecil Jane. New York: Bonanza and Interpretations. Lexington, Mass.: Fernando. Translated and annotated by Books, 1989. D.C. Heath, 1991. Benjamin Keen. New Brunswick: Rethinking Columbus: An Educator's Crosby, Alfred W. The Columbian Rutgers University Press, 1959. Guide to the 500th Year Anniversary. Voyages, the Columbian Exchange, and Milwaukee: Rethinking Schools, Granzotto, Gianni. Christopher Colum- Their Historians. American Historical 1991. (See Resources section for Association, 1987. (For information, bus: The Dream and the Obsession. New ordering information.) York: Doubleday and Co., 1985. write AHA, 400 A Street SE, Wash- ington, DC 20003.) Sale, Kirkpatrick. The Conquest of Irving, Washington. The Life and Paradise: Christopher Columbus and the Dor-Ner, Zvi. Columbus and the Age of Voyages of Christopher Columbus. Columbian Legacy. New York: Knopf, Discovery,. New York: William Mor- Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1981. 1990. row and Co., 1991. Koning, Hans. Columbus: His Enter- Vargas Llosa, Mario. "Questions of prise. New York: Monthly Review The Log of Christopher Columbus. Conquest: What Columbus Wrought, Press, 1976. Translated by Robert H. Fuson. and What He Did Not." Harper's Camden, Me.: International Marine (December 1990): 45-53. Morison, Samuel E. Admiral of the Publishing Co., 1987. Ocean Sea: A Life of Christopher Colum- Viadero, Debra. "What Happened in bus. Boston: Little, Brown and Co., Meltzer, Milton. Columbus and the 1492?" Teacher Magazine (January World Around Him. New York: 1946. 1992): 10-11. Franklin Watts, Inc., 1990. Taviani, Paolo Emilio. Columbus: The "When Worlds Collide." Newsweek Great Adventure. His Life, His Times, Columbus Controversy Special Issue (Fall/Winter 1991). His Voyages. New York: Crown/ Bigelow, Bill. "Discovering Colum- Orion, 1991. bus: Rereading the Past." Language Willis, Scott. "Rough Sailing for Arts (October 1989): 635-43. Columbus." ASCD Update (October General 1991): 1,6. Bedini, Silvio A. (ed.). The Christopher "Exploding the Columbus Myth." Columbus Encyclopedia (vol. 1 and 2). Indigenous Thought Newsletter (January/ Zinn, Howard. "Columbus, the February 1991). (For ordering infor- New York: Simon and Schuster, Indians and Human Progress." In A 1992. mation, see the Resources section.) People's History of the United States. New York: Harper Colophon Books, Christopher Columbus and Conquest of Gray, Paul. "The Trouble With 1980. Mexico. Primary Source Portfolios Columbus." Time (October 7,1991): from Jackdaw Publications. (For more 52-56. Exploration information, contact Jackdaw Publica- Boorstin, Daniel. The Discoverers. New tions, P.O. Box A03, Amawalk, NY Las Casas, Bartolome de. The Devasta- York: Random House, 1983. 10501, (914) 962-6911.) tion of the Indies: A Brief Account. Translated by Henna Briffault. New Cortes, Hernán. Letters.from Mexico. Columbian Quincentenary Edition of York: Seabury Press, 1974. Edited and translated by A. R. Magazine of History. Organization of Pagden. New York: Grossman American Historians, Spring 1991. In Defense of the Indians. Publishers, 1971. (To order, contact OAH, 112 North Translated, edited, and annotated by Bryan Street, Bloomington, IN Stafford Poole. Dekalb: Northern Diaz del Castillo, Bernal. Cortez and 47408-4199, (812) 855-7311.) Illinois University Press, 1974. the Conquest of Mexico by the Spaniard in 1521. Edited by B. G. Herzon. Hamden: Linnett Books, 1988. 29 Jackson, Donald Dale. "Who the Josephy, Alvin (ed.). America in 1492: Crosby, Alfred W. The Columbian Heck Did 'Discover' the New The World of the Indian Peoples before the Exchange: Biological and Cultural World?" Smithsonian (September Arrival of Columbus. New York: Alfred Consequences of 1492. Westport, 1991): 76-85. A. Knopf, 1991. Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1972.

Larson, Robert. "Was America the Kennedy, Paul. "The Rise of the McNeill, W:lliam H. Plagues and Wonderful Land of Fusang?" American ." In The Rise and Fall Peoples. Garden City, NY: Anchor Heritage (April 1966): 42-45,106-9. of the Great Powers. New York: Press, 1976. Random House, 1987. McDonald, Lucille S. The Arab Marco Sokolov, Raymond. "Columbus's Polo, Ibn Battuta. Nashville: T. Nelson, Rouse, Irving. The Tainos: Rise and Biggest Discovery." Natural History 1975. Decline of the People Who Greeted (August 1987): 66-67. Columbus. New Haven: Yale Univer- Morison, Samuel E. The European sity Press, 1992. Viola, Herman J., and Carolyn Discovery of America: The Southern Margolis. Seeds of Change: A Voyages A.D. 1492-1616. New York: Salmoral, Manuel Lucena. America Quincentennial Commemoration. Wash- , 1974. 1492: Portrait of a Continent 500 Years ington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institute Ago. New York: Facts on File, 1990. Press, 1991. Nebenzahl, Kenneth. Atlas of Colum- bus and the Great Discoveries. New Native American Perspectives Weatherford, Jack. Indian Givers: How York: Rand McNally, 1990. "The First Nations 1492-1992." The the Indians of the Americas Transformed NACLA Report on the Americas the World. New York: Crown Pub- Polo, Marco. The Travels of Marco Polo. (December 1991). (See Resources lishers, 1988. New York: Dorsett Press, 1987. section for ordering information.) Wolf, Eric R. Europe and the People Wilson, Samuel M. "Columbus's Huaman Poma de Ayala, Felipe. Letter Without History. Berkeley: University Competition." Natural History (Janu- to a King: A Picture-History of the Inca of California Press, 1982. ary 1992): 27-29. . Edited and translated by Christopher Dilke. Boston: Allen and Legacy Europe and the Americas Unwin, 1978. Bingham, Marjorie W., and Susan H. Brown, James A. "America Before Gross. Women in Latin America: From Columbus." In Indians in American Leon-Portilla, Miguel (ed.). The Pre-Columbian Times to the Twentieth History: An Introduction (Frederick E. Broken Spears: The Aztec Account of the Century. St. Louis Park, MN: Hoxie, ed.). Arlington Heights, II.: Conquest of Mexico. Boston: Beacon Glenhurst Publications, 1985. Harlan Davidson, 1988. Press, 1992. Elliott, J.H. "The World After Cardini, Franco. Europe 1492: Portrait Menchia, Rigoberta. I, Rigoberta Columbus." The New York Review of of a Continent Five Hundred Years Ago. Menclui: An Indian Woman in Guate- Books (October 10,1991): 10-14. New York: Facts on File, 1989. mala. New York: Routledge, Chapman, and Hall, 1985. Galeano, Eduardo. Memory of Fire. Clendinnen, Inga. Aztecs: An Interpre- New York: Pantheon Books, 1987. tation. New York: Cambridge Univer- Thornton, Russell. American Indian sity Press, 1991. Holocaust and Survival. Norman: The "Inventing America, 1492-1992." The University of Press, 1987. NACLA Report on the Americas Fiedel, Stuart J. Prehistory of the (February 1991). (For ordering Americas. New York: Cambridge Wachtel, Nathan. The Vision of the information, see Resources section.) University Press, 1987. Vanquished: The Spar..sh Conquest of Perri through Indian Eyes. Hassocks, Nash, Gary B. Red, White, and Black: Foote, Timothy. "Where Columbus England: Harvester Press, 1977. The People of Early America. Was Coming From." Smithsonian Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, (December 1991): 28-41. Exchange 1982. "The Conquest of Nature, 1492- 1992." The NACLA Report on the Wills, Garry. "1492 vs. 1892 vs. Americas (September 1991). (For 1992." Time (October 7,1991): 61. ordering information, see Resources.

30 27 Resources

Alternative Viewpoints Minneapolis Library Association 1992 Alliance The following is a sample of the many ATTN: Chris Dodge c/o Richard Hill organizations that publish information 4645 Columbus Avenue South American Indian Art Institute offering different perspectives on the Minneapolis, MN 55407 P.O. Box 2007 Quincentenary. (612) 541-8572 Santa Fe, NM 87504 Call or write for information about a or Alliance for Cultural resolution passed by the American c/o Suzan Shown Harjo P.O. Box 7591 Library Association urging school and Morning Star Foundation Minneapolis, MN 55407 community librarians to present both 403 10th Street SE ACI) is a national network that works Native American and European Washington, DC 20003 for grassroots empowerment and perspectives on the Quincentenary. The 1992 Alliance coordinates the dembcratic participation through efforts of Native American organiza- cultural activity. ACI) publishes the National Council of Churches tions, foundations, and the media to quarterly newspaper huracan, featuring 475 Riverside Drive, #572 provide opportunities for discussion of information about quincentennial New York, NY 10115 themes and topics of Indian concern activities. Distributes Respond* Faithfully to the during the Quincentenary. Quincentenary: A Study/Action Packet. CALC Clergy & Laity Concerned This 60-page action packet raises North American Congress on Latin P.O. Box 1987 questions about the impact of Europe- America (NACLA) Decatur, GA 30031 ans since 1492 on the indigenous 475 Riverside Drive (404) 377-1983 peoples of the Americas. Room 454 Publishes CALC Report (Vol. XV, New York, NY 10115 No. 3 was entitled "What Really Native American Ministry (212) 870-3146 Happened in 1492?") and also distrib- United Methodist Church NACLA is devoting four issues of its utes a packet of Columbus-related P.O. Box 75050 Report on the Americas magazine to materials from diverse viewpoints for Milwaukee, WI 53215 special reports on the conquest, land, $5. CALC is also developing a cur- (414) 384-1500 indigenous peoples, and African riculum around the "Rediscovering Distributes an annotated bibliography peoples of the Americas. the " theme. on Native Peoples of North America, Contact the 1992 Curriculum Work- including sections on children, Rethinking Schools ing Group at the above address. women, law, and spirituality. 1001 East Keefe Avenue Milwaukee, WI 53212 Canadian Alliance in Solidarity With (414) 964-9646 Native Peoples Publishes a bimonthly newspaper, P.O. Box 574, Station P Rethinking Schools. The special edition Toronto, Ontario M5S 2T1 Rethinking Columbus is a 96-page magazine featuring articles, poems, The group's Resource Reading List and resources for teaching about 1990 (available for $19.95) describes Columbus and contemporary Native films, periodicals, books, curricula, American issues. Single copies are $4 and other resource materials related to plus $2 postage. Bulk rates available. Native Americans. Re-View 1492-1992 Indigenous Thought 71te coming of the hoDe raised Plains Indian culture to P.O. Box 801 tts apogee. In rho crayon-and-pencil drawing circa c/o Jan Elliott 1887, a 1:11,1n1 brave ff1101111 in.full dress, mounting New York, NY 10009 6802 SW 13th Street a horse dtyked Out in equally splendid battle attire. This bilingual (English/Spanish) Gainesville, FL 32608 newsletter includes articles and (904) 378-3246 resources from around the world. This monthly newsletter focuses on quincentennial issues from a Native American perspective. 31 Two Visions of the Conquest Student Newspaper Supplement A 16-page Columbus newspaper supplement for grades 5-8 is also available. The supplement SPICE/Latin America Project includes articles and activities about Europe and the Americas; and geography; the Littlefield Center, Room 14 encounter and exchange between Europe and the Americas and its legacy; and a special section 300 Lasuen Street on historical perspectives. The newspaper supplement is being distributed by the Newspaper-in- Stanford University Education (NIE) departments of many newspapers nationwide. At press time, the following Stanford, CA 94305-5013 newspapers planned to print the supplement. Please contact your NIE coordinator directly. (415) 723-1114 AL Huntsville Times Lee Ann Yeager ...,15/532-4497 This one- unit for grades 9-12 CA San Diego Union/ Marlyne Kwasek 619/293-2114 compares the Spanish and Aztec views CA San Jose Mercury News Cheryl Dingman 408/920-5000 CO Denver Post Jill Scott 303/820-1335 of the Spanish conquest of the Aztecs CO Pueblo Chieftain Jacquie Huffaker 719/544-3520 x311 in Mexico. Package includes slides of CT Advocate & Greenwich Time John Wentzel 203/964-2387 the Aztec and Spanish paintings of CT Connecticut Post Wendy Weisman 203/330-6219 events during the conquest and CT Bristol Press Marilyn Bresson 203/584-0501 eyewitness accounts from both CT Danbury News-Times Barbara Levitt 203/731-3404 CT Evening Sentinel Pauline Keefe 203/734-2546 perspectives. CT Hartford Courant Marcey Munoz 203/241-3790 CT Meriden Record Journal Sandra Blodgett 203/235-1661 x7326 View from the Shore American CT New Britain Herald Lori Groves 203/225-4601 Indian Perspectives on the CT New London Day Elaine Stattler 203/442-2200 Quincentenary FLBradenton Herald NIE Dept. 813/748-0411 FLDaytona News-Journal NIE Dept 904/252-1511 Northeast Indian Quarterly FLFlorida Today Linda Ingram 407/242-3891 400 Caldwell Hall FL Fort Myers News-Press Lisa Madden 813/335-0415 Cornell University FLFt. Lauderdale Sun Sentinel !Deborah Meissner 305/425-1183 Ithaca, NY 14853 FL Jacksonville Times-Union Caroline Charbonnet 904/359-4447 A special issue of the Northeast Indian FLMiami Herald Carolyn Lavan 305/376-3246 Northwest Florida Daily News Carol DeBolt 904/863-1111 Quarterly, Viewfrom the Shore offers FL FLPalm Beach Post Sara Hoffner 407/837-4170 numerous articles from a Native FLl'anama City News-Herald Judy Hancock 904/783-7621 American perspective, as well as an FLPensacola News Journal NIE Dept 904/435-8638 extensive resource list. FLSt. Augustine Record NIE Dept 904/829-6562 FLSt. Petersburg Times Eddie Moran 813/893-8138 FL Tampa Tribune Rene Gunter 813/272-7764 Quincentenary Organizations IL Chicago Sun-Times Ken Scott 312/321-3161 Christopher Columbus IL Pioneer Press Leanne Mitchell 708/251-4300 Quincentenary Jubilee Commission IL Times Courier Betty Boyer 217/345-7085 1801 F Street NW INFort Wayne Newspapers Nancy White /19/461-8832 Washington, DC 20006 INGary Post-Tribune Alicia McGill /19/881-3039 KS Topeka Capital Journal Carolyn Terhune 913/295-1111 MA Boston Globe Gwen Wharton 617/929-2640 National Hispanic Quincentennial ME Bangor Daily News Donna Fransen 207/990-8218 Commission ME Bath Brunswick Times Record Paula Conielio 207/729-3311 810 First Street NE, 3rd Floor ME Central Maine Morning Sentinel Clayton La Verdiere /07/873-3341 Washington, DC 20002-4205 ME Dept. of Education NIE Office Becky Hayes Boober /07/289-5982 ME Journal Tribune Fran DeFrancesco 207/282-1535 ME Kennebec Journal Linda Cote 207 /623-3811 National Italian-American Foundation ME Lewiston Sun Journal Larry Bard 207/784-5411 ATTN: Maria Scarapicchia ME Portland Press Herald Jim Gold /07/780-9000 666 Ilth Street NW #800 MN Duluth News-Tribune Jan Chronister 800/456-8080 Washington, DC 20001-4596 MO St. Louis Dispatch Leslee Small 800/365-0820 NC Charlotte Observer Ginny Swinson 800/532-5350 Contact the National Italian-Ameri- NY Newsday Patricia Houk 516/454-2184 can Foundation for a list of commis- OR Corvallis Gazette-Times Bonnie Winans 503/753-2641 sions organizing quincentenary OR East Oregonian Amy Bedford 503/276-2211 activities in their respective states. OR Observer Bob Moody 503/963-3161 PA Dept. of Education James Wetzler 717/783-1832 PA Gettysburg Times Marilyn Maitland 717/334-1131 Spain '92 Foundation PA Lancaster Newspapers Sherrye Dee Garrett 717/291-871)1 1821 Jefferson Place NW PA New Casde News Jill Haines 412/654-6651 Washington, DC 20036 PA Philadelphia Inquirer Debbie Carroll 215/854-5656 l'APottsville Republican Kay Haffey 717/622-3456 Quinto Centenario/Quincentennial PA Times Publishing Company Carol Bowersox 814 /487-1820 SD Rapid City Journal Naomi Dempcy 605/394-8387 Organization of American States TN Knoxville News-Sentinel Diana Morgan 615/521-1766 1889 F Street NW TX San Antonio Light Joe Carroll Rust 512/271-2723 Washington, DC 20006 WA Spokesman Rev/Spokane Chronicle ..Christine Bubb 800/338-8801 x5071 WV Charleston Gazette/Daily Mail Megan Widdecombe 304/348-7906 WV West Virginia Press Assoc. Gloria Flowers 304/342-1101 29 32 National Council for the Social Studies Position Statement The Columbian Quincentenary An Educational Opportunity

Nint..teen ninety-two is the 500th The Contemporary Relevance Basic Knowledge about the anniversary of Columbus's first voyage of 1492 Historical Setting and Effects to the Americas. The voyage of One of the most significant and visible of Columbus's Voyages Columbus is a much too significant features of the contemporary United Educators should ensure that good event in for the States is its multiethnic and culturally contemporary scholarship and reliable nation's schools and colleges to ignore pluralistic character. Scholars describe traditional sources be used in teaching or to treat romantically or trivially. the United States as one of history's students about Columbus's voyages, The most fitting and enduring way in first universal or world nations its their historical settings, and unfolding which educators can participate in people are a microcosm of humanity effects. Scholarship highlights some commemorating the Quincentenary is with biological, cultural, and social ties important facets of history that are in to examine seriously the available to all other parts of the earth. The danger of being disregarded, obscured, scholarship to enhance our knowledge origin of these critical features of our or ignored in the public hyperbole about 1492 and, in turn, to enhance demographic and our civic life lies in that is likely to surround the the knowledge of our students. the initial encounters and migrations Quincentenary. Particular attention Specifically, educators should of peoples and cultures of the Ameri- should be given to the following: help students comprehend the cas, Europe, and Africa. contemporary relevance of 1492, and Another significant feature of the Columbus did not discover provide students with basic, accu- United States is the fact that the nation a new world and, thus, rate knowledge about Columbus's and its citizens are an integral part of a initiate American history. voyages, their historical setting, and global society created by forces that Neither did the nor did the unfolding effects. began to unfold in 1492. Geographi- seafaring Africans, Chinese, Pacific Sixty years after Columbus's first cally, the Eastern and Western Hemi- Islanders, or other people who may landfall in the Americas, Francisco spheres were joined after millennia of have preceded the Vikings. The land Lopez de Gomara wrote: "The virtual isolation from one another. that Columbus encountered was not a greatest event since the creation of the Economically, the growth of the new world. Rather, it was a world of world (excluding the incarnation and modern global economy was substan- peoples with rich and complex death of Him who created it) is the tially stimulated by the bullion trade histories dating back at least 1,500 discovery of the Indies." In the year linking Latin America, Europe, and years or possibly earlier. On that the thirteen English colonies declared Asia; the slave trade connecting Africa, fateful morning of October 12, 1492, their independence from Britain, Europe, and the Americas; and the fur Columbus did not discover a new Adam Smith observed: "The discov- trade joining North America, western world. He put, rather, as many ery of America, and that of a passage Europe, and . Politically, the historians have accurately observed, to the East Indies by the Cape of contemporary worldwide interna- two old worlds into permanent Good Hope, are the two greatest and tional system was born in the exten- contact. most important events recorded in the sion of intra-European conflict into history of mankind." the Western Hemisphere, the estab- The real America Columbus Although these two famous lishment of European colonies in the encountered in 1492 was a assessments of the significance of 1492 Americas, and the accompanying different place from the in human history may be overstate- intrusion of Europeans into the precontact America often por- ments, it is certainly true that the political affairs of Native Americans, trayed in folklore, textbooks, and world as we know it would not have and the Native Americans' influence the . come to be were it not for the chain on the political and military affairs of The America of 1492 was not a of events set in motion by European European states. Ecologically, the wilderness inhabited by primitive contact with the Americas. massive transcontinental exchange of peoples whose history was fundamen- plants, animals, microorganisms, and tally different from that of the peoples natural resources initiated by the of the Eastern Hemisphere. Many of Spanish and Portuguese voyages the same phenomena characterized, modified the global ecological system rather, the history of the peoples of forever. both the Western and the Eastern .30 33 Hemispheres, including: highly As a result of forces emanat- Although most examina- developed agricultural systems, centers ing from 1492, Native tions of the United States of dense populations, complex civili- Americans suffered cata- historical connections to the zations, large-scale empires, extensive strophic mortality rates. Eastern Hemisphere tend to focus networks of long-distance trade and By far the greatest contributors to on northwestern Europe, Spain cultural diffusion, complex patterns of this devastation were diseases brought and Portugal also had extensive interstate conflict and cooperation, by the explorers and those who came effects on the Americas. sophisticated systems of religious and after. The microorganisms associated From the Columbian voyages scientific belief, extensive linguistic with diseases such as smallpox, through exploration, conquest, diversity, and regional variations in measles, whooping cough, chicken religious conversion, settlement, and levels of societal complexity. pox, and influenza had not evolved in the development of Latin American the Americas; hence, the indigenous mestizo cultures, Spain and Portugal Africa was very much a part peoples had no immunity to these had a continuing influence on life in of the social, economic, and diseases when the Europeans and the American connints. of the Africans arrived. These diseases were Eastern Hemisphere in 1492. crucial allies in the European conquest The Enduring Legacy of 1492 The , which of the Native American. The ensuing Certain events in human history initially linked western Africa to wars between rival European nations change forever our conception of who Mediterranean Europe and the that were played out in this hemi- we are and how we see the world. Atlantic islands, soon extended to the sphere, the four centuries of Indian Such events not only change our maps Americas. Until the end of the eight- and European conflicts, as well as the of the world, they alter our mental eenth century, the number of Africans now well-documented instances of landscapes as well. The event of 500 who crossed the Atlantic to the genocidal and displacement policies of years ago, when a small group of Americas exceeded the number of the colonial and postcolonial govern- Europeans and, soon after, Africans, Europeans. The labor, experiences, ments further contributed to the most encountered Native Americans is of and cultures of the African-American extensive depopulation of a group of this magnitude. Educators contribute people, throughout enslavement as peoples in the history of humankind. to the commemoration of the well as after emancipation, have been Despite this traumatic history of Quincentenary in intellectually significant in shaping the economic, destruction and deprivation, Native significant and educationally appropri- political, and social history of the American peoples have endured and ate ways when they assist students in United States. are experiencing a cultural resurgence becoming knowledgeable about this as we observe the 500th anniversary of event and about its critical role in The encounters of Native the encounter. shaping contemporary America as a Americans, Africans, and universal nation within an interdepen- Europeans following 1492 Columbus's voyages dent world. were not just a European are not stories of vigorous white Signatories to the National Council for the actors confronting passive red phenomenon but, rather, Social Studies Columbian Quincentenary and black spectators and victims. were a facet of Europe's millen- Position Statement: American Anthropological Association Moreover, these were not inter- nia-long history of interaction American Association of School Administrators nally homogeneous groups but with Asia and Africa. American Association of School Librarians The "discovery" of America was Amencan Council for Teachers of Foreign Languages represented a diversity of peoples with American Historical Association varied cultural , economic an unintended outcome of Iberian American Indian Heritage Foundation structures, and political systems. All Europe's search for an all-sea route to Association for Childhood Education International Association for Supervision and Curriculum parties pursued their interests as they the "Indies" a ,.earch stimulated in Development perceived them sometimes inde- large part by the disruption of Euro- Association of American Geozraphers Council of the Great City Schools pendently of the interests of others, pean-Asian trade routes occasioned by International Education Consortium sometimes in collaboration with the collapse of the . Collaborative for Humanities and Arts Teaching others, and sometimes in conflict with Technology critical to Columbus's International Reading Association National Association for Bilingual Education others. All borrowed from and voyages such as the compass, the National Association for Elementary School Principals influenced the others and, in turn, sternpost rudder, gunpowder, and National Association of Secondary School Principals National Catholic Education Association were influenced by them. The internal paper originated in China. The lateen National Council for Geographic Education diversity of the Native Americans, the sail, along with much of the geo- National Council of Teacliers of English Africans, and the Europeans contrib- graphical knowledge on which National Council of Teachers of National Education Association uted to the development of modern Columbus relied, originated with or National History Day American pluralistic culture and was transmitted by the Arabs. National Middle School Association National Science Teachers Association contemporary world civilization. Organization of American Historians William J. Saunders, Executive Director of National Alliance of Black School Educators Social Studies Development Center Society for History Education World History Association 31'3 4 TestYour Columbus IQ, page 19 Answers

1 True. In fact, ancient Greeks and Magellan found the western strait potatoes are other native American Arabs had calculated that, at the that led to the Pacific and the Spice crops that now feed hundreds of equator, one degree covered about Islands. millions of people in Africa. 60 nautical miles. 7 Montezuma II's empire of 3d Horses had evolved in America, 2 a Columbus was born in 1451 in ten million Aztecs was larger than but became extinct during the Ice Genoa. He moved to Lisbon, Charles V's . Age. In the early 1500s, Hernando Portugal, in 1478. He died in Cortes and his men came ashore on Valladolid, Spain, in 1506. 81 c By providing cheap, readily the Canbbean coast of Mexico with grown, nutritious food, the potato 16 horses many of them de- 3 c Five after leaving La enabled the European population scended from the horses Columbus Gornera in the , to soar. experienced a five- brought to the Caribbean. Columbus and the fleet reached land on October 12, 1492. 4f The Arawak Indians of Cuba grew and smoked tobacco, a crop 4 1-e Navidad is the Spanish word that eventually attained worldwide for . popularity. Today, tobacco is 2-d Columbus named the island Cuba's most profitable crop. San Salvador Holy Saviour in gratitude for a safe voyage. 5a In addition to the tomato, other 3-b Trinidad was named for the crops grown by native peoples in Holy Trinity. North and South America include 4-f Hispaniola is a derivation of La cocoa, pineapples, , and Espariola Spain. peanuts. These crops are more 5-c Columbus asked the Virgin of valuable than all the gold the Guadalupe for help during a storm Americas ever produced. on his return trip to Spain. After his safe arrival, he visited her shrine in 6b Africans were brought to the June 1493 to give thanks and to Caribbean a few years after Colum- prepare for his second voyage, bus brought sugar cane to which would carry Christianity to Hispaniola. The native population the New World. had all but disappeared and the 6-aDomingo is the Spanish word colony's only hope for economic for Sunday. survival was sugar cane grown by enslaved Africans. 5 c In Greek mythology, Calypso was a sea nymph. Barbecue, canoe, Hernando Cones's map of Tenochtitlem, capital of the 9 a The Pope made the division, on hurricane, and tobacco are all , appeared in 1524. the condition that the people living derived from Caribbean languages; there be Christianized. tomato, from Aztec. fold population increase in just one century. During the potato 10 d 13,000. It is estimated that each 6 b Vasco da Gama sailed around of the nineteenth century, hundreds ton of sugar produced on the Africa to India in 1499. Marco of people died of starvation weekly; plantations devoured one African Polo, 15 years old, made the still others left Ireland to seek a life. journey from Venice to Peking on better life in America. foot. Columbus never reached the Orient. In 1520, Ferdinand 2e Slave traders took cassava, a root, to Africa within a few years of Columbus's voyage. Corn, chili peppers, , and sweet

32 35 BEST COPY AYARAIRE CM" Photo Credits Division. The New York Public Library, Astor. Art Resource. K47200, Ridolfo del pl: Zvi Dor-Ner for WGBH; p3: c. Rebecca Lenox and Tilden Foundations: p12: Fredenck Ghirlandaio. ChnstolOro Colombo, Museo E. Marvil: p4-5 Bibliotheque Nationale. Kemmelmeyer, First Landing of Christopher Navale, Pegli; Jose Maria Obregón, The Pans; Gunter Zamer, World Map, 1492, The Columbus, 1800/1805, gilt of Edgar William and Inspiration of Christopher Columbus. 1856. Newberry Library, Chicago: p6: Zvi Dor- Bernice Chrysler Garbisch, National Gallery of Museo Nacional de Arte. Mexico City Ner for WGBH: Theodor de Bry. Art. Washington; p13: c. I). Donne Bryant; (1NBA), photo by Salvador Lotteroth/Jesus SIthibuilding in the Neu, li'orld. by permission Alfredo Chavero, Lienzo de Tlaxcala. Mexico, Sanchez Uribe; Scala. Art Resource, K65371. of the Houghton Library, Harvard University; 1892, courtesy of The Dumbarton Oaks Research Luigi Sciallero. I itimi moment di Christotor) p8: Zvi Dor-Ner for WGBEI: P9: Jost Library and Collection. Harvard University; p14: Colombo, Gallena d'Arte Modema, Genoa; Amman and Hans Sachs, The Book of Trades. Christiana Dittman; c. Robert Frerck, Odyssey; p22: inset: Library of Congress; Alfredo Dover Publications, Inc.. New York. 1973; Batusta Agnese, Atlas of Portalan Charts, Venice Chavero. Lienzo de Tlaxcala. Mexico, 1892, Museo Naval. ; p10: c. Russ 1543-1545, courtesy of the John Carter Brown courtesy of Tozzer Library. Harvard Schleipman; Zvi Dor-Ner for WGBH; Library at Brown University; C. Merz. University; Hernando Cortes. Map of the ;hammock) G.F. de Oviedo. 1547; Kartoffelpflanzszene, c. 1836, courtesy of Planni- Gulf of Mexico and Plan of Mexico City, (barbeque) Theodor de Bry, Crands Voyages, Werke. Munchen; p15: William Clark, Ten riell's Nuremberg, 1524. The Newberry Library. Part I, Frankfurt. 1590, by permission of the in the Island of Antigua, 1823, Hamilton College Chicago; p24: Honorio Philopono, Nava Houghton Library, Harvard University; Library, Bemecke Collection of the Lesser typis transacta naviRano, Venice. 1621, by (iguana) G. F. de Oviedo. Cordnica de la Antilles; Michael Ochs Archives; c. Michael K. permission of the Houghton Library, Harvard Indias, Spain. 1547; (canoe) Benzom. 1581; Nichols. Magnum Photos; p16: Jeff Foxx, Living University; front cover background: NASA; (tobacco) Andre Thevet, La Costnographie Maya, Harry N. Abrams. New York, 1987; c. inset: Pedro de Medina. Arte de Navegar. Universelle. Vol. 2, Paris. 1575. by perauss.,i, Jeffrey A. Rycus; p17: L. Glenn Westfall, 1545: inside front and back cover: Archivo de of the Houghton Library, Harvard University; Smoking Art and the Art of Smoking: NASA; p18: la Corona de Aragón. Barcelona. photo by pll: Giraudon/Art Resource, CRL10799, Bryan Edwards, The history, civil and commercial, of MAS Amphaciones/Reproducciones. Deveria. Reception of Christopher Columbus by the British colonies in the West Indies, London, 1801, Barcelona; back cover: c. Victor Englebert, c. Ferdinand E. Isabella, Musée Bargom; courtesy of the John Carter Brown Library at 91 Andrew Holbrooke/Black Star, c. 85 Christopher Columbus. Later to Sanchez. Brown University; Theodor de lky, 1595: Scala, Martine Rogers; Stock, Boston. ) Basel, 1493. Rare Books & Manuscript itterovvvv, 7w- 11161., r ft44.5 maiy.4.0..-104ret,/ I,./

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