SECONDARY ENGLISH ZONE

     CHRISTOPHER    COLUMBUS DAY Christopher Columbus  was an Italian-born explorer who set sail in August 1492, bound for Asia with backing from the Spanish monarchs  King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella . Columbus intended to chart a western sea route to China, India and the fabled gold and spice islands of Asia. Instead, he landed in the Bahamas, becoming the first European to explore the Americas since the  Vikings  established  colonies in Greenland and Newfoundland  during the 10th century. Did You Know? Contrary to popular belief, most educated Europeans in Columbus' day understood that the world was round, but they did not yet know that the Pacific Ocean existed. As a result, Columbus and his contemporaries assumed that only the Atlantic lay between Europe and the riches of the East Indies. Later that October, Columbus sighted Cuba and believed it was mainland China; in December the expedition found Hispaniola, which he thought might be Japan. There, he est