Answers—RonaldWantsToKnow:Italy,explorer,voyage,ships,land,sail

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Word of the Weekexplore — to transverse orrange over a region

The BookshelfColumbus Dayauthor: Jimmie Durham

First Voyage to America: Fromthe Log of the ‘Santa Maria’author: Christopher Columbus

Follow The Dream:The Dream:The Story of ChristopherColumbusauthor: Peter Sis

What isColumbus Day allabout?

Celebrated thesecond Monday ofOctober,Columbus Day isday set aside tocommemorate ChristopherColumbus's discovery of theAmericas on October 12, 1492.It is also a day to celebrate therole Italian immigrants haveplayed in making the UnitedStates great.

Columbus Day is a legal holi-day in the United States.Schools, government offices,post offices, and banks areclosed. Some businesses arealso closed. Others stay open.Virtually all stores are open onColumbus Day, and many holdspecial sales.

Countries in North and SouthAmerica remember Columbus'sdiscovery in different ways.October 12 is celebrated as"Discovery Day" in the Bahamas.It is celebrated as Día de laRaza (Day of the Race) in manyparts of Latin America. It is cele-brated as Día de la ResistenciaIndígena (Day of the IndigenousResistance) in Venezuela.

NewspaperKnowledge

Who was Christopher Columbus?Christopher Columbus was born in Genoa,

Italy, in 1451.He was born into what most wouldconsider a middle class family.But like most chil-dren of the era, he was expected to beginpreparing for a career at an early age. In hislater writings, Columbus claimed he first went tosea at the age of 10.

In 1470, following a shipwreck off the coastof Portugal, Columbus took up residence in thatcountry. From there, he continued to sail, follow-ing established routes and making voyages asfar as Iceland. But Columbus wanted to domore. Columbus wanted to find a shorter routeto the lands described by Marco Polo some 200years before – China, Japan, India, and the EastIndies. What's more, Columbus believed thesecret to finding a shorter route lay in sailingwest.

With plans in hand, Columbus approachedKing John II of Portugal in 1485. He asked forthree sturdy ships and enough money to fund ayear's voyage of discovery. King John II referredthe matter to his advisers. The advisersreviewed Columbus's plans. Columbus believedhe could reach land in just five weeks, but theking's advisers thought the proposed voyagewould take much longer. Ultimately, the adviserssaid the voyage would be a poor investment,and the king rejected Columbus's request.

Columbus appealed to the court again threeyears later. By that time, though, BartholomewDiaz had successfully sailed around the tip ofAfrica, and Portugal had lost all interest in west-ern exploration.

So Columbus took his plans on to KingFerdinand II and Queen Isabella I of Spain.Again, plans were referred to committee. Again,the committee believed Columbus had grosslyunderestimated the length of such a journey,and funding was refused. But the king andqueen of Spain did not want Columbus to takehis proposal elsewhere, so they provided himwith an annual salary.They also issued a decree

stating that he was to be given free food andlodging throughout the country.

Still, Columbus wanted more. He found pri-vate investors to underwrite roughly half theanticipated cost of his expedition and kept ask-ing the crown for the rest of the money – alongwith certain other provisions. If Columbus dis-covered new land, he was to be named "Admiralof the Ocean Sea." He was to be appointed gov-ernor of any newly-found lands. He alsorequested 10 percent of all revenues producedthrough new lands. At last, Columbus succeed-ed in persuading Ferdinand to underwrite theventure, and on Aug. 3, 1492, Columbus set sailwith 90 crewmen and three ships, the Nina, the

Pinta and the Santa Maria. It was a dangerousvoyage.No one had ever attempted to sail so faror so long without seeing land.

After two months at sea, many ofColumbus's crew wanted to turn back.They hadalready traveled much longer than originallyplanned, with no land in sight. Columbus insist-ed, however, that they press on. And on Oct. 12,1492, land was spotted -- land Columbus wouldcall "San Salvador." Columbus believed he hadreached an island off the coast of the EastIndies and dubbed the native inhabitants"Indians" as a result. Columbus was wrong. Hehad, in fact, stumbled onto the Americas.

Christopher ColumbusNIE Coordinator: Dana Wolfe / Graphic Designer: Scarlett E. Smith

15 Interesting FactsAbout ChristopherColumbus1. Christopher Columbus is believed tohave been born between Aug. 25 andOct. 31, 1451.

2. Christopher Columbus was born inGenoa, Italy, and his given name wasCristoforo Colombo.

3. Christopher Columbus began acareer as a seafarer at the age of 14and later supported himself by sellingmaps and charts.

4. Christopher Columbus believed thatAsia would be 2,400 miles west. Infact, 10,000 nautical miles lay betweenEurope and Asia.

5. Christopher Columbus first went toKing John of Portugal with his idea tofind a westward sea passage to Asiabut after months of waiting, the answerwas no thank you.

6. Queen Isabella's response toColumbus's idea was that his pricewas to high and that he wanted toomany ships.

7. If he in fact reached the Indies,Christopher Columbus was asking fora title, a coat or arms and one tenth ofall profits for Spain.

8. It took Queen Isabella six years toagree. Christopher Columbus, havinggiven up, was 4 miles out of townwhen the Queen's courier caught upwith him and shared the news.

9. It wasn't easy to get the money orthe ships, but it was even harder tofind a crew. Many people still believedthat the Earth was flat and that atsome point a ship would hit a waterfalland fall off of the side of the Earth.

10. A royal decree on April 30, 1492,ordered the suspension of judicial pro-ceedings against criminals that agreedto sail with Christopher Columbus.Even so, only four prisoners tookadvantage of this offer.

11. Christopher Columbus's first voy-age with the Nina, Pinta and the SantaMaria began on Aug. 3, 1492. On Oct.12, 1492, a sailor on the Pinta shouted"Tierra!" or "Land!"

12. Christopher Columbus and his

crew were actually seeing the island ofSan Salvador, 375 miles off of thecoast of Florida.

13. Columbus "discovered" (for theEuropeans) many of the CaribbeanIslands, South America and CentralAmerica.

14. On Christmas Eve, ChristopherColumbus allowed an experienced boyto steer the Santa Maria and later thatnight the ship crashed onto a reef nearHispaniola. Only the Nina and Pintawould return to Spain.

15. Even though he made three returntrips west, Christopher Columbusnever actually stepped foot on themainland of North America.

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