1. Who was the first explorer to circumnavigate the world?
2. What is a caravel? Describe its significance
3. Which Spanish explorer supposedly sought the Fountain of Youth and in the process landed in Florida?
4. If Columbus “discovered” America, why are the continents of the Western Hemisphere called North and South America and not North and South Columbia?
5. Who led the first European expedition down the Mississippi River to the Gulf of Mexico?
6. Which English explorer named land on the east coast of North America Virginia, to honor “The Virgin Queen,” Elizabeth I?
7. Which Spanish conquistador’s expedition led to the fall of the Aztec empire and the colonization of much of present-day Mexico?
8. Which European made three voyages to the Pacific Ocean, making contact with Australia and the Hawaiian Islands?
9. Who made the first water voyage from Europe to India, around Africa via the Indian Ocean?
10. What is the Northwest Passage?
11. Which English explorer made four attempts to find the Northwest Passage and died after his crew mutinied and set him adrift in a rowboat?
12. Which European’s 1497 expedition is commonly believed to be the first European voyage to North America since Leif Ericson’s?
The Wall Street Journal notes the tradition of honoring Christopher Columbus for sailing the ocean blue in 1492 “is facing rougher seas than the Niña, Pinta and Santa Maria” and wonders if the holiday is in danger of sailing off the calendar.
Columbus’ stature in elementary school classrooms has declined through the years. The Associated Press notes “many teachers are trying to present a more balanced perspective of what happened after Columbus reached the Caribbean and the suffering of indigenous populations.” In Texas, the idea that Columbus “discovered America” is out. Instead, 5th graders learn about the “Columbian Exchange” — the widespread exchange of people, plants, animals, goods, ideas and diseases that occurred after Columbus landed in the Americas. Fourth graders at one Pennsylvania school held a mock trial and found the navigator guilty of thievery, the AP reports. They sentenced him to life in prison. “In their own verbiage, he was a bad guy,” said teacher Laurie Crawford.
Over at Jay Greene’s Blog, Jay points out that ”many of the new answers offered are at least as simplistic and historically false as the established answers they are meant to replace.” Describing the people from whom Europeans confiscated lands as “Indigenous Peoples or First Nations” is inaccurate, since those people had previously confiscated it from earlier groups. “You can’t just declare that history starts whenever it suits you,” Greene writes.
These arguments aren’t going away anytime soon. For a decidely arch take on the “Columbian Exchange,” here’s Randy Newman’s wry ”The Great Nations of Europe.”
Columbus sailed for India, found Salvador instead.
He shook hands with some Indians and soon they all were dead.
They got TB and typhoid and athlete’s foot, diptheria and the flu,
‘Scuse me great nations comin’ through!
