Christopher Columbus

Lesson Plans | Primary Sources |

 

Lesson Plans:

Columbus' Voyage - Through the Internet, students can observe the events of 1492 from this dual vantage-point, exploring the two worlds that made contact when Columbus stepped ashore

A Different Perspective - Links to online lesson plans to teaching about Columbus across the grades.

Primary Source Documents:

Letter to Isabella and Ferdinand - circa 1494, Columbus lists his recommendations about how Spain should proceed, including his suggestion that the area he encountered be systematically colonized. The letter is fairly brief; especially pertinent are points 1, 4, 5 and 9. What does Columbus emphasize about what he saw and what should happen next?

Columbus' Journal - This document is the from the journal of Columbus in his voyage of 1492. The meaning of this voyage is highly contested. On the one hand, it is witness to the tremendous vitality and verve of late medieval and early modern Europe - which was on the verge of acquiring a world hegemony. On the other hand, the direct result of this and later voyages was the virtual extermination, by ill-treatment and disease, of the vast majority of the Native inhabitants, and the enormous growth of the transatlantic slave trade. It might not be fair to lay the blame at Columbus' feet, but since all sides treat him as a symbol, such questions cannot be avoided.

The Columbus Letter - Concerning the Islands Recently Discovered in what Columbus thought was the Indian Sea. Columbus's letter announcing the success of his voyage to the "islands of the India sea" is one of the most remarkable documents ever published. It is a key document in the social and intellectual histories of both Europe and the Americas.

Arawak Indians
Carib Indians
Conquistadors
Columbus the Tyrant
Mayans/Incas/Aztecs