Picture this for a moment.

1. Picture this for a moment. OK. Are you ready?? The year is 2012. You live in North America. You are happy. The world is at peace. Life is just dandy. But change is a-comin’…….

2. Remember Yekrah?? I was the Queen of Yekrah. Well, guess what? I’m back…..

3. Yekrah it turns out is not just a country. It’s a continent. Yekrah And the people of Yekrah have explored North America and plan on conquering you and the very land you live on.

4. The people of Yekrahbrought diseases like brainioma and heartifilia to North America that will affect millions of you. Many of you will die from these terrible disorders.

5. All people 10 years and older must collect for me at least 25 Ibs. of coal or limestone or 25 gallons of oil every 3 months. If you do this, you will receive a copper token to wear around your neck. If you wear no copper token at the end of the 3 months, you will be thrown in prison. Your length of time in prison will be for however many years you have been alive. Times three.

6. But coal, limestone, and oil are running out. So you and your family run for your lives only to be caught by me. You are brought face to face with weapons that you have never seen before.

7. You will be forced to work for the people of Yekrah who have settled in many cities and towns across North America. My people are definitely in control of your continent now. I have taken your land. You and your land will make me rich. You will be paid very little or none at all for your backbreaking work. In return I will protect you and educate you.

8. You will learn to speak zarni, the language of Yekrah. You will no longer speak the silly English language. My people will convert you to HullaHoopism, the religion of Yekrah. We worship the being called Plastic by dancing and mediating in circles. So you shall too.

9. And all that stuff you learned in school so far are lies. My people will re-educate you about mathematics, science, history, athletics, the arts, as well as gooliogy, rhinostophy, wealioogy, how to brush your teeth correctly, how to sneeze properly in public, and how to treat squirrels in your backyard.

10. You have no choice. You must do the things you are told. I wish you good luck. Your lives will be forever changed.

11. Today, we will describe the lasting effects of the Spanish in North America.

12. There is a small island in the Caribbean Sea known to the native people there as Guanahaní. It is 1492. As they sit cooking their meal over a fire pit, their chief pats his dog and thinks about the fishing trip he and his men will take tomorrow morning. Some men are down at the beach carving out a tree trunk that will become the canoe they will use for the journey.

14. Then all of a sudden there is a loud cry. Someone points towards the sea. There the chief sees something strange, something terrifying, something that he has never seen in all his life. What is it??

15. Welcome Christopher! Glad to see you made it. Or maybe not…

16. European explorers traveled the high seas and explored strange lands for three reasons known as the 3 Gs. Glory God Gold The Spanish explorers and Christopher Columbus sailed for these reasons as well.

17. Let’s back up a bit. In the late 1400s, Christopher Columbus decided to find a sea route that would take Europeans to the East Indies in Asia. East Indies

18. Europeans only had the Silk Road to travel on.

19. So Columbus chose to go west in search of this sea route. He miscalculated the size of the earth and thought it was a lot smaller than it really was. He didn’t realize that there were 2 other continents waiting for him.

20. So Columbus asked Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand of Spain for money to help him on his voyage to find this sea route. The King and Queen eventually agreed.

21. On August 3, 1492, Columbus and his men set sail on the Niña, Pinta, and the Santa Maria. They sailed till October 12 before seeing land.

22. Columbus was so happy that he had found a sea route to the East Indies. But there was a problem. He wasn’t in the East Indies. Not even close. Columbus landed on one of the islands in the Bahamas in the Caribbean Sea, nowhere near Asia. But there’s an even bigger problem here. Columbus didn’t even realize he had made a mistake.

24. Nevertheless, Columbus claimed this land for the King and Queen of Spain. He called the island San Salvador. Columbus called the people on the island Indians because they lived in the East Indies. Not exactly the right reason Mr. Columbus. This island and the others Columbus would travel to would later become known as the West Indies (in the Western Hemisphere).

25. Columbus would eventually visit Cuba and Hispaniola (Dominican Republic and Haiti). On January 13, 1493, Columbus captured 10-25 natives on the Dominican Republic and brought them with him back to Spain.

28. Columbus would go back to the West Indies 3 more times. On his second trip, Columbus traveled with 17 ships filled with settlers, animals, and supplies. He made his way to Puerto Rico, Jamaica, and the coasts of South America and Central America. Columbus’s goal was to start a colony so the Spanish could live there.

30. What about the natives who were already living there? Don’t they matter??

31. What ended up happening between the Spanish and the natives was called the Columbian Exchange (trade). Columbian Exchange: the movement of people, animals, plants, diseases, and ways of life from Europe (Eastern Hemisphere) to the Americas (Western Hemisphere).

32. The Indians gave the Spanish…. corn tomatoes potatoes beans

33. The Spanish gave the Indians….. horses sheep cattle pigs

34. The Spanish also gave the natives…… diseases like smallpox and measles that killed many.

35. The Indians’ lives were forever changed. They were forced to work on large Spanish farms for little pay. These farms grew sugarcane which was then sold. The money went back to Spain.

36. The Indians were forced to become Christian. The Indians worshipped many gods, spirits, and ancestors before the Spanish arrived. Indians 14 years or older were forced to pay a hawk’s bell full of gold or 25 lbs. of cotton to Spain as tribute every three months. If a person failed to do this, their hands would be cut off and they would bleed to death.

37. But there was no gold to be found. Anywhere. So the natives ran away. They were hunted by the Spanish who chased the natives with swords, things the Indians had never seen before.

38. The natives were forced to learn Spanish, Spanish farming techniques, and the Spanish lifestyle. What ended up happening was the Indian culture and way of life of those living on the islands began to disappear.

39. However, Christopher Columbus was the BIG GUY who showed other Europeans the way to the Americas, not the East Indies. Later in 1502, Amerigo Vespucci arrived in the East Indies and soon realized that he was not in the East Indies like Columbus had once thought. Vespucci realized he was on a whole different continent.

41. Later this continent would be called South America. And the one above it would be named North America.

42. But Christopher Columbus started it all off. He got the European explorations rollin’.

43. Some people today see Columbus as a hero to be celebrated for his bravery and explorations. Others see him as a villain that should be despised for what he did to the natives once he arrived in the Americas. C.C. C.C. How do you see Columbus? Is he a hero or a villain? Why?

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