Indigenous Peoples or Columbus Day

When Columbus landed in Guanahani (renamed San Salvador, Bahama Islands by Columbus), he began the European settlement of the New World. Guanahani was inhabited by the  Taíno people and it wasn't really a new world. In this activity students learn a little history, question what they have learned earlier, and calculate how far off Columbus was from East India and his understanding of the actual circumference of the Earth.

CCSS: 7.G, 7.NS, MP1, MP2

Columbus's progression across the Atlantic

This activity is about imagining sailing off into the west, into an empty-looking ocean, to find what your captain believes is a good route to the Indian subcontinent.  Sailing west was a huge navigational feat.  Fortunately Columbus's ships experienced good weather but they landed in the Caribbean ... not southern Asia. Use some of what we know now about navigation to examine this trek and do some reasoning and experimentation with the data. For younger students you might consider using only the first part of the activity.