AMERICAN LITERATURE I

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AMERICAN LITERATURE I

• Discovery Of A New World

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CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS
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ColumbusBorn at Genoa, or on Genoese
territory, in Italy, probably 1451 died at
Valladolid Spain, 20 May 1506.
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NEW WORLD BEGINNINGS

• A Planetary Perspective
• Several billion years ago, the whirling speck of
  dust, the earth, fifth in size among the planets,
  came into being.
• About six thousand years ago, geologicallyonly
  the day before yesterdayrecorded history began.
• A little over five hundred years agoonly
  yesterdaythe American continents were
  discovered.

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However, fascinating though it is, the
pageant of the American people does not loom
large on the time chart of mans past.
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HISTORICAL TIMELINE

• 4000 B.C.Recorded history begins.
• 48 B.C.Jesus born.
• 1607Virginia founded.
• 1945World War II ends.
• 2001Beginning of the Third Millennium.

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TIMELINE CONTINUED

• 1492Columbuss Discovery
• 1607Virginia Founded
• 1776Independence Declared
• 1945World War II ends

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BACKGROUND OF COLUMBUS

• Born of a respectable family of limited means,
  his early education was defective.
• On his arrival in Spain (1485) only one date has
  been preserved.
• Fernando, his son, quoting from his fathers
  writings

• Says that in Feb., 1467 he navigated the seas
  about Tile (probably Iceland).
• Columbus said that he was 14 when he first went
  to sea.
• However, in the journal of his first voyage, in
  1493, he said that he was on the sea for 23
  years, which would make him 19 when he first
  sailed.

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Columbus tried, unsuccessfully, to obtain
support from a number of sources before King
Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain finally
financed his voyage.
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He departed Spain on August 3, 1492, in an
attempt to cross the treacherous Atlantic in
three small ships the Pinta, Nina, and the Santa
Maria. None were more than 80 feet long and
weighed between 90100 tons.
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NINA
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PINTA
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SANTA MARIA
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SIGHTING OF A NEW WORLD

• At 10 oclock p.m. 11 October Columbus described
  a light which indicated land.
• His crew was jubilant at the sighting.
• At 2 a.m. on 12 October the land was seen plainly
  by one of the Pintas crew.
• In the forenoon Columbus landed on what is now
  called Watlings Island in the Bahama group, West
  Indies. The island was named San Salvador and
  Columbus took possession of the island for the
  Spanish sovereigns.

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FIRST VOYAGE RESULTS

• Columbus thought he had found an approach to
  India and China.
• However, partial recognition of the Bahamas,
• the discovery and exploration of a part of Cuba,

• and the establishment of a Spanish settlement on
  the coast of present-day Haiti is what he really
  discovered.
• Columbus named Cuba Juana, and Santo Domingo,
  Hispaniola.

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COLUMBUS VOYAGE
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Finally, it should be mentioned that Columbus
had managed to collect a large number of books
over the years.
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Several of them left a deep impression in
particular the Bible was a great source of
inspiration to Columbus. He drew heavily from the
work and took his name, Christ Bearer,
seriously, believing that he had a divine mission
to accomplish.
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THEMES/MOTIFS TO CONSIDER

• European ethnocentrisms
• Spread of monotheism (Christianity)
• Rejection of Native American spiritual beliefs
  (pantheism)

• Possibility of Eden being found on Earth
• Imperialism in regard to taking lands by force
• The opening of the American continent