Curse of the Explorers

1. Curse of the Explorers

2. Magellan • Searched for passage to Pacific Ocean • Sailed through “straits of” • Died in Philippines • Crew lst to circumnavigate the world

3. Cabot • Sailed for England • Landed on coast of New-foundland • Gave England claim to North America

4. Ponce de Leon • 1st to land on the mainland of North America • Looking for “fountain of youth” • Established St. Augustine, Florida

5. Cortez • Spanish Conquistador • Conquered Aztec emperor Montezuma

6. Balboa • Spanish Explorer • Claimed Pacific Ocean and adjoining lands for Spain

7. Sir Francis Drake • Set out to bring slaves to the new world • Known as a pirate, enemy was the Spanish ransacked Spanish settlements • 1st Englishmen to circumnavigate • Helped out Roanoke

8. Hudson • Find Northern Passage to Asia • Landed in what is now Canada • Namesake for River • Crew Mutinied against him.

9. Cartier • Searching for passage to Pacific and start a French colony in NA • Explored Canada and St. Lawrence River • Unsuccessful and discouraged French for decades to come

10. De Soto • Find treasure like that of the Incas • Find passage from Atlantic Ocean to Gulf of Mexico to the Pacific Ocean • Marched 350,000 miles and found nothing • Discovered a “large river” we hoped would lead us to the Pacific

11. De Gama • Set out to India told them we were searching for Christians and spices • Tried to be a big man and show force • Voyage gave Portugal a new trade route to the Far East

12. Columbus • Sailed west to Indies • Landed on the Bahamas • Sailed for Spain (King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella

13. Columbus • If Christopher Columbus were alive today, he would be put on trial for crimes against humanity. • Columbus' reign of terror, as documented by noted historians, was so bloody, his legacy so unspeakably cruel, that Columbus makes a modern villain like Saddam Hussein look like a pale codfish.

14. Why do we honor a man who, if he were alive today, would almost certainly be sitting on Death Row awaiting execution?

15. Please give me money? • Columbus was dead set on proving his theory that he could get to the Indies by traveling West from Europe. • At first he asked Portugal to fund him they rejected him so he went to Spain. • After 7 years of appealing for their support Queen Isabella consented to give him the backing for his voyage.

16. Set out on August 3, 1492 with 3 small ships: Nina, Pinta, and the Santa Maria. • Crew became restless as the voyage was not going as planned and Columbus was not a good leader demanded he turn around and go home. 2 days later he lands. After 70 days and 2400 miles they had found land.

17. On October 12, 1492 he landed on what is now the Bahamas.

18. ORIGIN STORIES: Columbus Day • Invented by the Knights of Columbus, a Catholic club type organization. • In the 1930s the Catholic people were looking for a hero for their children to look up to. • They were finally able to get FDR to agree to it and in 1934 Roosevelt singed into law as a federal holiday to honor a courageous explorer.

19. Issue #1 • Columbus wasn't the first European to discover America. As we all know, the Viking, Leif Ericson probably founded a Norse village on Newfoundland some 500 years earlier. So, hat's off to Leif. But if you think about it, the whole concept of discovering America is, well, arrogant. After all, the Native Americans discovered North America about 14,000 years before Columbus was even born!

20. Issue #2 • When he set foot on that sandy beach in the Bahamas on October 12, 1492, Columbus discovered that the islands were inhabited by friendly, peaceful people called the Lucayans, Taínos and Arawaks. Writing in his diary, Columbus said they were a handsome, smart and kind people. He noted that the gentle Arawaks were remarkable for their hospitality. "They offered to share with anyone and when you ask for something, they never say no," he said. The Arawaks had no weapons; their society had neither criminals, prisons nor prisoners. They were so kind-hearted that Columbus noted in his diary that on the day the Santa Maria was shipwrecked, the Arawaks labored for hours to save his crew and cargo. The native people were so honest that not one thing was missing.

21. Crimes • Shockingly, Columbus supervised the selling of native girls into sexual slavery. Young girls of the ages 9 to 10 were the most desired by his men. In 1500, Columbus casually wrote about it in his log. He said: "A hundred castellanoes are as easily obtained for a woman as for a farm, and it is very general and there are plenty of dealers who go about looking for girls; those from nine to ten are now in demand."

22. Crimes • He forced these peaceful natives to work in his gold mines until they died of exhaustion. If an "Indian" worker did not deliver his full quota of gold dust by Columbus' deadline, soldiers would cut off the man's hands and tie them around his neck to send a message. Slavery was so intolerable for these sweet, gentle island people that at one point, 100 of them committed mass suicide. Catholic law forbade the enslavement of Christians, but Columbus solved this problem. He simply refused to baptize the native people of Hispaniola.

23. Columbus' acts of cruelty were so unspeakable and so legendary - even in his own day - that Governor Francisco De Bobadilla arrested Columbus and his two brothers, slapped them into chains, and shipped them off to Spain to answer for their crimes against the Arawaks. But the King and Queen of Spain, their treasury filling up with gold, pardoned Columbus and let him go free.

24. In 1516, Spanish historian Peter Martyr wrote: "... a ship without compass, chart, or guide, but only following the trail of dead Indians who had been thrown from the ships could find its way from the Bahamas to Hispaniola."

25. Columbus Holiday or Not? • “… your Highness may believe that this island (Hispaniola), and all others, are as much yours as Castile. Here there is only wanting a settlement and the order to the people to do what Is required. For I, with the force I have under me, which is not large, could march over all these islands without opposition. I have seen only three sailors land, without wishing to do harm, and a multitude of Indians fled before them. They have no arms, and are without warlike instincts; they all go naked, and are so timid that a thousand would not stand before three of our men. So that they are good to be ordered about, to work and sow, and do all that may be necessary, and to build towns, and they should be taught to go about clothed and to adopt our customs.”

26. Annotating • “WHY = What was Columbus really like as a person?

27. Columbus: Argumentative News Paper Article (45 Points)Is Columbus a Hero or a Villain? Today you will be writing an argumentative News Paper Article. • Catchy and Appropriate Title (5 points) • Introduction/Thesis Statement (5 points) • Attention getting quote and/or opening line. • Introduction (a very short summary) of what you will be discussing. • Argument #1: Reasons that Columbus is a hero (10 points) • Columbus was a hero because …. • Must support your reasoning with at least two facts. • Argument #2: Reasons that Columbus is a villain (10 points) • Columbus was a villain because… • Must support your reasoning with at least two facts. • Your Opinion (10 points) • I believe ____________________, because… • Must be supported with facts you have already mentioned. • Concluding Sentence (5 points) • Drawing (possible bonus) Learning Target: I can analyze the impact of European exploration of the New World.

28. Claim/Thesis Argument

29. Writing • Based on what you have learned about Christopher Columbus, do you think Columbus was a hero or a villain? Write a paper explaining your reasoning. Provide at least 3 pieces of evidence for your opinion from any of the documents you analyzed today.