Christopher Columbus was born on Oct 31, 1451 and died on May 20, 1506 at the age 54. The famed Italian voyager who stood 6′ tall unwittingly discovered America as he intended to discover a westerly route to India.
On May 7, 1757, Thomas Pownall sailed from England for Boston to take his post as the governor of Massachusetts. Aboard the ship was George Lord Howe, an army officer. The two men developed a friendship over the three month voyage.
Many people are surprised to learn that Christopher Columbus and his men enslaved native inhabitants of the West Indies, forced them to convert to Christianity, and subdued them with violence in an effort to seek riches.
Enslaved workers constituted the backbone of the Confederate war effort. Although stories of these impressed workers and camp slaves have been erased from our popular memory of the war in favor of mythical accounts of black Confederate soldiers, their presence in the Confederate army constituted a visual reminder to every soldier —slaveowner and non-slaveowner alike—that their ultimate success in battle depended on the ownership of other human beings.
The Salem witch trials occurred in colonial Massachusetts between 1692 and 1693. More than 200 people were accused of practicing witchcraft—the Devil's magic—and 20 were executed.
The discovery of America, the New World was made by Christopher Columbus 1451-1506 in 1492. America was named after Amerigo Vespucci in 1507. America, the New World opened up new trade routes, power, riches and wealth to the countries of Europe.
Abraham Lincoln still resonates with people throughout the world who call upon him for words of wisdom during times of conflict. His poetic prose dedicated to the principle of democracy advocated both the preservation of the Union and the abolition of slavery.
In the years leading up to the Civil War, when polarization over whether people should be able to own other people as property was reaching its fever pitch, a similar and related sort of division was happening.
