1.  "I have always read that the world, both land and water, was spherical, as the authority and researches of Ptolemy and all the others who have written on this subject demonstrate and prove, as do the eclipses of the moon and other experiments that are made from east to west, and the elevation of the North Star from north to south."

   This passage is from a letter written by Christopher Columbus.  It proves that he was well aware that the earth is shaped like a sphere, and that he could give several ways to prove the fact.  Ptolemy was a famous Greek geographer and astronomer of the 2nd century A.D. who had written about the spherical shape of the earth.  In a lunar eclipse, the shadow thrown by the earth onto the moon is always curved.  That is only possible if the earth is a globe.  The elevation of the North Star above the horizon changes with movement of the observer north and south, again, something that is only possible if the earth is a globe.  The other "experiments" Columbus mentions may be the fact that a ship sailing out to sea seems to vanish as it moves over the curved surface of the globe.

2.  "At two hours after midnight appeared the land, at a distance of two leagues.  They handed all sails and set the treo, which is the mainsail without bonnets, and lay-to waiting for daylight Friday, when they arrived at an island of the Bahamas that was called in the Indians' tongue Guanahani."

   This is a passage from the journal Columbus kept on his voyage in 1492.  It describes the first sighting of land in the New World on October 12 of that famous year.  The actual island of his first landing is uncertain.
 

3.  "We have an illness only gold will cure."

   Hernando Cortes, leader of the Spanish forces that conquered the Aztec empire in 1521, is said to have made this odd claim to the Aztec ruler Montezuma.  The Spanish did indeed have an "illness" - greed - for gold that drove them to conquer the lands of Mexico, Central America, and much of South America.

Copyright 2006 by David Burns
www.fasttrackteaching.com

1.  An artist's depiction of Christopher Columbus, based on a painting made well after the death of the explorer.  No images of Columbus made in his own lifetime are known to exist.  Many details of his life and voyages, however, did survive into the written record of history.

2.  A drawing from the 1500s of a ship of the type Columbus used.  While some details about the three ships he used in 1492 are known, their actual appearance is a matter of guesswork.  Their names, however, are well known:  the Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria.

3.  A drawing made by an early explorer showing natives in the West Indies making corn pancakes, or what today would be called tortillas.  Corn was completely unknown to Europeans before they made contact with the New World in 1492.

Copyright 2006 by David Burns
www.fasttrackteaching.com

   These famous quotes are posted here for users of our book, Fasttrack to America's Past, and to help all teachers and students of American history.  You may download this page to transparency film, to paper, or to computer media for noncommercial educational use only, provided:

• You make no changes, additions, or alterations of any kind.
• You leave the copyright and source information visible and legible on all copies.

   Copyright 1998, 2006 by David Burns.                     www.fasttrackteaching.com