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fandomhigh2006-01-11 02:52 pm
professor-lyman.livejournal.com) wrote in fandomhigh2006-01-11 02:52 pm
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US History (Wednesday, January 11, 7th period)
Josh looked up from a map of Montana when his history class filed in.
"Good to see you all again. None of you have run away in terror yet which means I'm obviously not doing my job all that well." He grinned. "Kidding. Mostly."
He pulled out his history textbook. "Today we start at the beginning. Well, not quite the 'In the beginning' Genesis stuff, but North America before Columbus.
He passed out a copy of a poem. "This is a good reminder that there are two sides--at least two sides--to every story we've been told."
He ran a hand through his hair. "While it has been proven that others--notably the Vikings, and theories expanding the list to include the possibility of the Egyptians, the Chinese, the Polynesians, various African tribes, and even the Greeks and Romans--had discovered a land mass West of Europe and East of Asia, the guy that really made that land mass something the rest of the world cared about was Christopher Columbus. Heck, other than Jesus, he's the only person in history to have an epoch of history named after him--pre- and post-Columbian civilization."
Josh looked down at his notes, then smacked at the map hanging down over the chalkboard. "Columbus, as most of you know, set out from Spain determined to find a path to China that didn't include going past Turkey, Italy and the fines they were imposing on trade." He snickered. "Of course he couldn't do math and underestimated how big the Earth was by about 10,000 miles. The Portuguese, who could do math, had turned his expedition down flat." He looked up. "No intellectual in Europe, by the way, believed the Earth was flat at this point. So if you'd learned that in elementary school, unlearn it right now.
"So Columbus headed out in his three slightly leaky boats--the Nina, the Pinta and the Santa Maria, heading West towards China, which was known as Cathay at the time. The expedition spotted land, in the form of what is now known as the Bahamas, 33 days later. Columbus thought they have found the Indies because, again, he can't do math. He called the people he met Indians, who have absolutely no idea what he's talking about. Partially because he's speaking to them in Spanish and Arabic, which they don't understand.
"First contact goes great as far as Columbus is concerned. The tribe is friendly--possibly because of the swords Columbus and his gang are wielding--and Columbus, after taking a few of the members back with him as trophies, along with as much gold and jewelry as he can find--heads back to Spain and is greeted as a hero."
"For the Arawak, it was a disaster. Columbus will return and turn many of them into slaves. Pretty soon all of the Arawak-speaking-tribes were dead--killed by European weapons, slavery, or diseases like smallpox and measles that the people in North America had no immunity to."
Josh stopped reading.
"Today's discussion. In your time at Fandom High, however short it might have been, you've met someone who isn't from your culture, your dimension, or your, um, planet. Since we've obviously not tried to kill each other or take each other hostage, we're a step ahead of Columbus. Pair up and talk about your initial 'first contact' with someone different than yourself and use what you did to come up with something that Columbus should've done better."
He pointed at the book. "And we're not going to overlook the natives who were here first. Your homework assignment is to pick a tribe--either from the North like one of the Inuit tribes, the Northwest like the Chinook, the Kwakiutl or the Spokane, the Southwest like the Apache, the Pueblo or the Hopi, the Plains like the Sioux, the Crow, or the Arapaho, the Midwestern moundbuilders like the ones who used to live in Cahokia, or the Eastern tribes like the Powhatan, the Delaware or the Iroquois League, which was made up of the Huron, Creek, Choctaw, Cherokee, and Chickasaw peoples." He pointed at his inbox. That will be due inthe homework thread my box before next class. A hundred words snagged from the almighty Wikipedia will be great.
"Next week we learn about what happened after Columbus opened his big mouth and the rest of the world decided they needed the gold that was in the Americas."
"Good to see you all again. None of you have run away in terror yet which means I'm obviously not doing my job all that well." He grinned. "Kidding. Mostly."
He pulled out his history textbook. "Today we start at the beginning. Well, not quite the 'In the beginning' Genesis stuff, but North America before Columbus.
He passed out a copy of a poem. "This is a good reminder that there are two sides--at least two sides--to every story we've been told."
He ran a hand through his hair. "While it has been proven that others--notably the Vikings, and theories expanding the list to include the possibility of the Egyptians, the Chinese, the Polynesians, various African tribes, and even the Greeks and Romans--had discovered a land mass West of Europe and East of Asia, the guy that really made that land mass something the rest of the world cared about was Christopher Columbus. Heck, other than Jesus, he's the only person in history to have an epoch of history named after him--pre- and post-Columbian civilization."
Josh looked down at his notes, then smacked at the map hanging down over the chalkboard. "Columbus, as most of you know, set out from Spain determined to find a path to China that didn't include going past Turkey, Italy and the fines they were imposing on trade." He snickered. "Of course he couldn't do math and underestimated how big the Earth was by about 10,000 miles. The Portuguese, who could do math, had turned his expedition down flat." He looked up. "No intellectual in Europe, by the way, believed the Earth was flat at this point. So if you'd learned that in elementary school, unlearn it right now.
"So Columbus headed out in his three slightly leaky boats--the Nina, the Pinta and the Santa Maria, heading West towards China, which was known as Cathay at the time. The expedition spotted land, in the form of what is now known as the Bahamas, 33 days later. Columbus thought they have found the Indies because, again, he can't do math. He called the people he met Indians, who have absolutely no idea what he's talking about. Partially because he's speaking to them in Spanish and Arabic, which they don't understand.
"First contact goes great as far as Columbus is concerned. The tribe is friendly--possibly because of the swords Columbus and his gang are wielding--and Columbus, after taking a few of the members back with him as trophies, along with as much gold and jewelry as he can find--heads back to Spain and is greeted as a hero."
"For the Arawak, it was a disaster. Columbus will return and turn many of them into slaves. Pretty soon all of the Arawak-speaking-tribes were dead--killed by European weapons, slavery, or diseases like smallpox and measles that the people in North America had no immunity to."
Josh stopped reading.
"Today's discussion. In your time at Fandom High, however short it might have been, you've met someone who isn't from your culture, your dimension, or your, um, planet. Since we've obviously not tried to kill each other or take each other hostage, we're a step ahead of Columbus. Pair up and talk about your initial 'first contact' with someone different than yourself and use what you did to come up with something that Columbus should've done better."
He pointed at the book. "And we're not going to overlook the natives who were here first. Your homework assignment is to pick a tribe--either from the North like one of the Inuit tribes, the Northwest like the Chinook, the Kwakiutl or the Spokane, the Southwest like the Apache, the Pueblo or the Hopi, the Plains like the Sioux, the Crow, or the Arapaho, the Midwestern moundbuilders like the ones who used to live in Cahokia, or the Eastern tribes like the Powhatan, the Delaware or the Iroquois League, which was made up of the Huron, Creek, Choctaw, Cherokee, and Chickasaw peoples." He pointed at his inbox. That will be due in
"Next week we learn about what happened after Columbus opened his big mouth and the rest of the world decided they needed the gold that was in the Americas."
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