Monday, October 10, 2011 is Columbus Day. A federal holiday since 1937—and celebrated since the 18th century—Columbus Day commemorates the landing of Christopher Columbus in the New World in 1492. The Italian explorer set off on his voyage two months prior, supported by the Spanish monarchs King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella. Intending to go to China, India, and other parts of Asia, Columbus actually landed in the Bahamas and thus became the first European to explore the Americas since the Vikings colonized the northern territories of Greenland and Newfoundland.
Believing Cuba to be China, Columbus established the first Spanish colony in the Americas and returned to Spain bearing gold, spices, and other local products. Before his death in 1506, Columbus returned to the area several more times, but it was not until his third voyage that he realized he had discovered a continent previously unknown to Europeans—and not in fact, Asia.
Columbus Day is an excellent opportunity to learn about influential figures during this Age of Discovery and to discuss popular beliefs held by people at that time, such as the notion that Europeans did not know the Pacific Ocean existed. Browse the selections below for recent books about Christopher Columbus and this period in time.
To learn more about the history of Columbus and how Columbus Day evolved visit: http://www.history.com/topics/columbus-day.
And for further resources and activities visit:
http://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/calendar-activities/celebrate-columbus-20613.html
http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=3748145
http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/1492/columbus.html
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/famouspeople/standard/columbus/index.shtml
http://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/calendar-activities/celebrate-columbus-20613.html
http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=3748145
http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/1492/columbus.html
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/famouspeople/standard/columbus/index.shtml
Prisoner of the Inquisition
Theresa Breslin
This book is outstanding. At once I couldn't put it down but could hardly continue and I'm sure I'll remember it forever. Most humbling of all is the fact that the fifteenth century Spanish Inquisition really did exist and such happenings really did happen. Theresa Breslin seems to bear the pain and humility of this coupled with tremendous respect for historical fact and accuracy and creates a truly remarkable work. Zarita and Saulo meet as teenagers one fateful day in the Spanish port of Las Conchas in 1490 and their lives are inextricably linked thereafter yet also forced apart. He is banished to life at sea as a slave but also amasses great navigational knowledge and learns first hand the problems facing Christopher Columbus to secure backing for his famous voyage of discovery. There is superb detail about the maps of the era and first ever globe. Simultaneously, Zarita is banished to a life of loneliness and confusion as her father remarries and the Inquisition oppresses the lives of everyone around. Then, as Saulo is free to seek revenge, Zarita is captured and it's only to wonder that the human race can show such courage and ever heal from such horror. Category: More Mature Young Adult Themes. Doubleday, D12.99. Reviewer: Gill Roberts (Carousel 46, November 2010).
ISBN: 9780385617031
Contributor: Emily Griffin
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