Recommended Website:
Columbus Navigation Homepage
On the “official” Columbus Day holiday — I thought you might enjoy a website that integrates math into the history, navigation and landfall of Christopher Columbus. We featured this site in 2005, and at that time it had a different url. The site has been updated and now has its very own domain. When you get to the site you will see a menu that includes:
- Columbus’ Navigation — learn what “dead reckoning” means and how Columbus used celestial navigation. Explore nautical math terms like “league.” Learn how fast the Nina, Pinta, and Santa Maria sailed and how much cargo they carried. Explore the theories of Columbus’ first land fall (and the mathematical calculations that back them up).
- Columbus’ History — See a timeline of Columbus’ voyages and events. Read his biography that includes information about all 4 of his voyages.
- Columbus Special Topics — Explore some personal opinion pieces by the webmaster on the topics of who really discovered America, and the destruction of native peoples. NOTE: Parents, as always, should PREVIEW this information to determine suitability of content.
MAKE YOUR OWN QUADRANT!
Columbus used a quadrant to navigate on his voyages. Here’s a website that has complete instructions for how to make a quadrant. Once you make the quadrant, you can use it to do some of the suggested activities.
