Show:
General questions
What textbooks don't tell us
Explorers Of America
100
What date do you associate with Christopher Columbus and why do you associate that date with him?
1942. "In 1942, Columbus said in from the blue."
100
What is one of the most significant Factors that textbooks leave out?
Advances in military technology. Around 1400, European rulers began to commission ever bigger guns and learned to mount them on ships. Europe's incessant wars gave rise to this arms race, which also ushered in refinements in archery, drill, and siege warfare. The West had an advantage in military technology over the rest of the world. Not a single textbook mentions arms ias a cause of European world domination.
100
Who crossed the Atlantic previous to Columbus that textbooks don't give credit to?
Native Americans- Native Americans voyaged east millennia ago from Canada to Scandinavia or Scotland.
200
On his first voyage, Columbus kidnapped how many Indians and where did he take them?
10-25 and Spain.
200
What did Europe also expand the use of?
New forms of social technology, such as bureaucracy, double entry bookkeeping, and mechanical printing. Bureaucracy actually allowed rulers and merchants to manage far-flung enterprises efficiently. Due to this, the printing press and increased literacy allowed news of Columbus's findings to travel across Europe much farther and faster than news of the Vikings' expeditions.
200
Who is Las Casas?
He is one of the first European settlers in the Americas. He witnessed the harsh treatments of the Indian Americans made by the Spanish colonists.
300
What is the encomienda system?
A System in which he "commended" entire Indian Villages to individual colonists or groups of colonists. It was a forced labor system that was not called slavery. This system caused incredible depopulation.
300
Was Columbus's motive to get wealthy?
YES. Although most textbooks downplay the pursuit of wealth as a motive for coming to the Americas when they describe Columbus and later explorers and colonists.
300
Who were the Arawaks?
The Arawaks were the indians who inhabited most of the islands in the Caribbean. Columbus ended up capturing some of them because he believed they would lead him to gold.
400
What was Columbus' connection to slavery?
Columbus not only sent the first slaves across the Atlantic, he send more slaves (about 5000) than any other individual.
400
What were Columbus's assumed motives in discovering land and what are his actual motives?
It is assumed that his motives in discovering land were was "mere exploration or even trade." But his actual motives were for "conquest and exploitation."
400
Who is Bartolomeu Dias?
The man who was credited with being first to round the cape of Good Hope at the southern tip of Africa in 1488 whereas it was actually the Phoenicians and Egyptians who sailed all the way around Africa before 600 BC.
500
What happened on March 24th, 1945?
Columbus set out to conquer the Arawaks. Bartolome de Las Casas described the force columbus assembled to put down the rebellion.
500
WHO do you think the textbooks we read in high school and grade school are written for and by?
Descendants of the Europeans.
500
Who are Thorfinn and Gudrid Karlsefni?
Two men who led a party of 65 or 165 or 265 homesteaders with livestock and supplies, to Settle Vineland. They lasted two years then conflict with Native Americans caused them to give up.