oh wow this is christopher he lived a long time ago and is a kid just like you christopher worked on this cool ship this merchant ship took people and cargo like this fish and whatever's in this box from one place to another the ship traveled all around the coasts of europe and africa delivering goods and travelers to their different destinations alas on one faithful journey danger was lurking on the water pirates the pirates attacked the boy's ship as it sailed along the portuguese coast and the ship sunk into the ocean below luckily our young explorer
grabbed onto a drifting piece of wood and floated safely to shore as christopher grew he began to study astronomy math map making and navigation eventually he used what he learned to come up with a new route across the atlantic ocean he wanted to see if it was possible to sail this new route but a journey that big would need a whole lot of money christopher told his idea to different wealthy and important people and asked them if they would pay for his trip across the atlantic ocean it took seven years but finally the king and
queen of spain agreed to give him the money with that money he bought supplies hired a crew and purchased three ships the nina the pinta and the santa maria and in the year 1492 our young explorer took off on a journey that changed the course of the world [Music] did you figure out who christopher was from our story if you said christopher columbus you were right have you heard of him before he lived about 500 years ago when columbus lived on the earth america looked very different it was the same size but it was mostly
wilderness with no cities or states like we have today it wasn't just empty land though there were people living in the new world these people were the people we now call native americans the native americans have lived in north and south america for thousands of years way before any europeans landed on their shores they had their own culture traditions and way of life however those things changed quite a bit after explorers like christopher columbus arrived from other parts of the world before we continue learning about christopher columbus here's a question for you was christopher columbus
really the first explorer to visit america what do you think the answer is no christopher columbus was not the first explorer to visit america it was actually a man named leif erikson an explorer from greenland who came to america over 400 years before columbus around the year 1 000. so why do some people say that christopher columbus discovered america let's learn more about him and his ocean voyages to find out christopher columbus was born around the year 1451 in an italian city called genoa where he worked for his father and also studied sailing in addition
to studying he was also a bookseller while living in portugal columbus married philippa moniz perestrello they had two sons together it was during this time that christopher columbus began to make plans for his new route across the atlantic ocean back then traveling from europe to asia by land was very difficult and dangerous so people traveled by sea they sailed south along the west african coast and around the cape of good hope but christopher decided to make and follow a new route his route would go west across the atlantic ocean the people in europe did not
know that north and south america even existed they also didn't know how big the earth really was because of that columbus thought his trip from europe to asia would be a lot shorter than what it really would have been one of the reasons columbus wanted to sail west was to start trading with asia he also wanted to earn fame and fortune for his trip the people who gave him the money for his journey king ferdinand and queen isabella wanted fame and fortune too but they also hoped to spread their religion catholicism to lands across the
earth columbus was promised 10 of the riches he discovered a noble title and the opportunity to become the governor of any new lands he would find in 1492 columbus took off on his journey he left logs and journals of his trip that still survived today which is one of the reasons we know so much about him and his expeditions how do you think you would feel if you were setting off on a journey and not sure where you were going or when you'd get there do you think you'd feel excited scared a little of both
christopher probably felt the same way after sailing across the atlantic ocean for five weeks his crew of 87 men landed on an island if you've ever wondered why math is important consider this columbus and his crew thought they had landed in asia which was where they meant to land but they miscalculated and actually ended up in the bahamas near the bottom of north america columbus and his crew traveled from island to island for several months seeking gold silver spices and other valuables but they weren't very successful in finding any riches during their journeys they also
encountered the native people already living on the islands unfortunately columbus and his men weren't very nice to them some of what columbus wrote about the native people in his diaries is very sad and wrong in one entry he said that he thought the people would make fine servants many of the native people were mistreated and enslaved by columbus and his crew many others got very sick from diseases that the europeans brought with them on their journeys sadly columbus and his journeys had mostly negative effects on the people who already lived in the places he visited
columbus left some of his crew on one of the islands and told them to settle a place called hispaniola this island is now divided into two countries haiti and the dominican republic even though the crew had many challenges columbus was given a hero's welcome home when he returned to spain after his first expedition he brought some birds and plants from his expedition for people to see what the places he visited were like from his other journeys he also brought back different foods like potatoes cocoa vanilla tomatoes peanuts and spices you may have heard the rhyme
in the year 1492 christopher columbus sailed the ocean blue that's true he did but did you know that he also made three other trips want to know something else interesting even though he made four trips to the americas christopher columbus never actually set foot on the north american continent so why do some people say that christopher columbus discovered america well probably because columbus brought attention to america in a whole new way his discoveries of other places and his courage to set out on new and sometimes dangerous waters led to more people getting the courage to
do the same thing more expeditions were sent out west across the atlantic ocean which eventually led to the european discovery and settlement of the first 13 colonies in america now that we've learned more about christopher columbus let's put our explorer hats on what's the name of the person who visited america before christopher columbus did you say leif erikson if you did you got it right what were the names of christopher columbus's three ships from his first voyage the nina the pinta and the santa maria did you get all three right great job who gave columbus
the money for his journey did you remember that it was king ferdinand and queen isabella of spain did christopher columbus ever step foot on the north american continent no he didn't did you remember that here's our last question what year was columbus's first voyage west it was 1492. great job everybody did you discover things about christopher columbus that you didn't know even though columbus did not actually discover america explorers like columbus helped connect parts of the world that hadn't been connected before and gave people a better idea of just how big our world is maybe
one day you'll discover something exciting and new hope you had fun learning with us visit us at learnbright.org for thousands of free resources and turnkey solutions for teachers and homeschoolers [Music]
