Christopher Columbus and the voyage of 1492 (Past Moments from history series)

Join Cece and Amy on the "Check This Out!" podcast for kids as they explore the fascinating history of Christopher Columbus and his 1492 voyage to the Americas. 

Discover the real story behind Columbus’s journey, including who he was, why he sailed West, and what he actually found. 

Learn about the Vikings and indigenous peoples who were in the Americas long before Columbus, and understand the historical impact—both positive and negative—of this famous expedition. 

This episode highlights key facts, debunks myths, and encourages young listeners to think critically about history and its ongoing influence today. Perfect for kids, parents, and educators interested in engaging, factual history content!

Hashtags:

#ChildrensHistory #EducationalPodcast #HistoryForKids #ChristopherColumbus #VoyageOf1492 #ExplorationHistory #KidsLearning #HistoryExplained #IndigenousPeoples #Vikings #Explorers #HistoryMyths #EarlyAmerica #NativeAmericanHistory #SchoolHistory #KidsEducation #HistoryFacts #Discovery #CulturalHistory #KidsHistoryLessons #spain #portugal #italy #navalhistory #sailing #ships

Transcript

In 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue… have you ever heard this rhyme before? Do you know who Christopher Columbus is? 

Cece: I remember him! 

Today’s past moment from history is about the voyage of Christopher Columbus to the Americas.   There is so much more to the story than him just boarding a few ships and coming to America.  

Cece: I’m excited to learn more!  

Good! This past moment has lots to discover!  Get it? 

Cece: Haha 

Before we start to talk about this past moment lets just lay a few facts out there about this past moment, and the famous explorer Christopher Coumbus.  

Cece: Check this out! 

1. Christopher Columbus is a really famous explorer and he has sometimes been credited with “discovering” america.  He in fact, did not discover the Americas, discovering something means finding something no one has ever found before.  Millions of people already lived in the Americas before he arrived.   

Cece: My mind is blown!  

1. Christopher Columbus wasn’t even the first european to come to the Americas, recent evidence has proved that the vikings traveled to and settled in parts of north america as early as the year 1000, about 500 years earlier than columbus.  Keep in mind we are in the year 2025 so when columbus traveled to the americas that was 533 years ago.  

Cece: That was a long time ago! 

1. According to the encyclopedia Britannica America was probably truly discovered (meaning the first humans to encounter it) by hunters from Asia a really really really really long time ago.  Historians believe they walked to Alaska from Siberia on a land bridge during the last ice age or came by boat and continued southward along the coastline. In either case, these people arrived 13,000–35,000 years ago—so long ago that their descendants are considered the continent’s indigenous peoples, Native Americans. Remember columbus only came to the americas about 500 years ago, so the original discoverers of the Americas made that discovery many thousands of years before!  

Cece: I learned something new today 

I’m glad, and we are going to learn more about the voyage of Christopher Columbus in 1492 and the impact this past moment from history had on the world around us!  Should we dive in? 

Cece: Let’s get started 

Alright! 

Cece Welcome to Check this out! Podcast for kids 

Amy And their grownups.  Where we explore interesting people, places, ponderings and past moments from history that shape the world around us.  

My name is Amy Contreras, and I’m Cece.  

As you know, we are talking about the past moment today of the Voyage of Christopher Columbus in 1492.  I know a lot of kids learn about Christopher Columbus in school.  Should we see what our listeners already know about the 1492 voyage?

Cece: Yea! Let’s see what you’ve got 

Listeners, do you know what the names of the Ships that Christopher Columbus sailed to the Americas on? 

The Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria 

Here is another one - do you know what country Columbus sailed to the americas from? 

Was it 

1. Italy 
2. Portugal 
3. Spain 

If you said Spain great job!  

Do you know why Columbus set out on his journey? 

He was trying to find a westward route to the East Indies - we will talk more about this, but for a long time people had to travel around africa to get to Asia from places like Spain or Italy.  It took a long time to travel this way so people like Columbus were looking for a quicker way to the East Indies and Asia.  

Where was Chrisopher Columbus born? 

1. Germany
2. Italy
3. Spain

Although he sailed to the americas  on behalf of spain, christopher columbus was actually born in Italy!  

One more question and then we will give you all the details about the voyage of 1492! 

How many times did columbus sail to the americas? 

1. 3 times 
2. Four times 
3. Six times 

If you said B Four times great guess.  

Cece: Good job! 

Don’t worry if you didn’t know all those facts.  After our episode you’ll know all the key info about the voyage of 1492.  

Cece: Let’s start at the beginning 

Christoper Columbus was born in Genoa, Italy, in 1451. Around 1476, he went to Portugal and settled in the city of Lisbon. While living in Portugal, Columbus went to school and became a sailor. He sailed on several voyages, married a Portuguese lady of the lower nobility, and became a successful ship captain. 

Cece: Good to know 

As Columbus grew up he heard people talking about how long it took to get to the east indies and asia by the boat route around africa.  He became determined to find a direct water route west from Europe to Asia.  

Cece: Why mama? 

Well Cece back in the 1400s it was a lot harder for people to do something called trading.  Trading is when people or countries exchange goods.  Back when Columbus was alive things like spices, silks, and gold were the most precious things they could get.  In fact, spices like cinnamon and pepper were worth even more than gold when columbus was alive! 

Cece: Whoa!  

The idea of getting to asia by sailing west instead of around africa was not new, but lots of experts back when columbus was alive agreed the voyage was too long and difficult. 

Cece: Who else was involved? 

Columbus offered the plan to reach the east indies and asia  by a western boat trip to King John II of Portugal in 1484, but the king rejected it in favor of the route around the tip of South Africa. 

Cece: Thats too bad

Columbus didn’t have an easy time getting to his voyage.  He needed a king and queen to sponsor his trip.  

Cece: What does thats word mean mama? 

Sponsor something  means pay for it.  Before Spain eventually agreed to sponsor the voyage he had asked the king and queen in England, France, and Portugal.  

Cece: Wow! 

Columbus and his crew left spain on August 3rd in 1492 with 3 ships.  The Nina, Pinta, and Santa Maria.  Do you want to guess how many men traveled with the ships?  

Cece: Ummm I’ve got nothing 

It was 90!  

On October 12th Columbus and his crew found land.  

Did they find Asia and the east indies? 

Cece: No! 

You’re right Cece.  Columbus and his crew actually landed somewhere in the bahamas, we think on the island of San Salvador.  But don’t try telling Columbus that, he thought he had reached the outer islands of the East Indies when they found land! 

Cece: Hahah thats funny 

He was so convinced he found the east indies when Columbus met the indigenous people who lived on these islands he called them indians.  

Cece: What an amazing story!  

After they arrived Columbus and his crew continued to explore the “new world”. For months, Columbus sailed from island to island in the Caribbean, looking for the “pearls, precious stones, gold, silver, spices, and other objects and merchandise whatsoever” that he had promised to the king and queen of Spain. 

Check this out: 

Columbus never set foot in what we know today as the United States.  He spent the majority of his time in south and central america and the islands of the bahamas and caribbean.   

Cece: I had no idea!  

Columbus spent a few months in the islands and In January 1493, he left about 20-30 men behind in a settlement on an island he named Hispaniola.  

Check this out Today Hispaniola is an island we know as 2 countries, the Haiti and the Dominican Republic.   

After he left his men behind he went back to Spain to share the news he had found the East Indies with the king and queen of spain. Columbus was celebrated in spain, which we will talk about in a minute, but over time his legacy has been updated to include the horrible impact he had on the indigenous people who lived in the Americas.  Columbus’s crew (and others that followed) brought disease, violence, and slavery to the people who lived in these places before they arrived.  

Cece: Here’s an important fact!  

When Columbus landed on Hispaniola (the island that contains Haiti and the Dominican Republic), about 250,000 natives from the Taino tribe lived there. Sixty years after columbus and his crew landed, how many of the indigenous Taino people do you think were left?

a. A few hundred 

B. 100,000

C.  All of them

The answer is A.  Only a few hundred were left.  

Cece: I can’t believe that happened 

Columbus believed the native people on the lands he sailed to should be enslaved. He wrote about it a lot in his journals. He thought because they lived a different kind of life and because they were kind and welcoming they should submit to the Spanish.  He mistreated them and even stole indigenous people to take back to spain with him.  

Cece: That is not ok! 

Sadly his first voyage was just the beginning of his mistreatment of the local people in all the places he sailed to.  

Christopher Columbus's return to Spain in March 1493 marked a big moment in world history.  Europeans at the time of Columbus didn’t know the vikings had found the americas hundreds of years before. 

His first successful voyage in 1492 led to a major period of European exploration. Columbus returned to spain with native artifacts and kidnapped individuals, which he presented to the Spanish court. His arrival was celebrated in Spain, and ignited interest across Europe for further exploration.

Cece: History can be complicated

In the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, Columbus's legacy was updated to reflect both his exploration and skills as a sailor but also to highlight the evils of colonialism and enslavement. Columbus became linked to the killing of indigenous populations at the hands of Europeans. 

Cece: Here’s a fun fact

In the 2020s many communities renamed Columbus day (October 11) as Indigenous Peoples' Day. Both days are traditionally celebrated on the second Monday of October.

Columbus made four voyages to America, not just the one in 1492.  He explored a large area of the Caribbean and a part of the northern coast of South America. 

Do you know what the first thing he asked about on every island? 

Cece: No

At every island the first thing he inquired about was gold! 

Columbus’s voyage of 1492 revealed two continents new to Europeans and initiated a period of rapid colonization, exploration, and exploitation in the Americas.  This time of exploration moved people, animals, food and disease across cultures and the ocean. Old World wheat from europe became an American food staple. African coffee and Asian sugar cane became cash crops for Latin America, while American foods like corn, tomatoes and potatoes were introduced into European diets.

It is important that we talk about Christopher Columbus. He is remembered as being a daring and path-breaking explorer who sailed in 1492. He introduced europe to the New World, but his actions also unleashed a ripple effect  on the Americas that would eventually devastate the native populations. 

Now before we let you go… 

Cece: We wrote you a poem 

In 1492, across the sea so blue,
Sailed Columbus and his crew,
Searching for lands precious and new. 

He thought he’d find a shortcut east,
To Asia’s spices and treasures at least,
But what he found on his journey 

Was a land that would change history

He landed on islands in the Caribbean’s glow,
Called them Indies, cuz he didn’t know,

The Native peoples already there,
Lived their lives without despair,

But Columbus’s arrival marked a change,
Bringing sorrow, sickness and pain

So next time you hear that famous rhyme,

Think of the people and the passage of time,

All the stories—and truths—held within,

Of explorers and the world’s vast spin.  

Thanks for listening to another episode of Check this out!  Here at the “check this out” podcast we know there is a lot of information and it can be overwhelming to find accurate information! This podcast is a tool for you to help you do something called “citing your sources”. As you get older and do projects for school you’ll learn that certain types of websites or information sources aren’t verified or have evidence and documentation to back them up.  On “check this out” we use verified sources to build the stories you hear about.  

Verified sources are materials or information that have been confirmed for accuracy, and credibility through an evaluation process!  Our sources for this week's episode are History.com, Encyclopedia Britannica, PBS, national geographic, the smithsonian and EBSCO. 

Join us next week for another episode featuring a past moment from history!  

 Cece: Thanks for listening, see you next episode, don’t forget to subscribe