Good morning, I am going to look at a documentary about Christopher Columbus and the explorers who discovered America before him. The run time for this documentary is 51:54. It is called First Before Columbus: The True Discoverers of America.
There were other explorers before Christopher Columbus discovered the Americas. They even hinted at the Americas in their maps. Leif Erickson was one. Legend has it that a Welsh prince-built castles along the Ohio River Valley. An African King, who is said to have used his wealth to finance one of the world’s biggest fleets. So was Christopher Columbus would be the first to discover America? Or did he use oral traditions and written records to map out his voyage to the Americas? The story begins in Seville and Holy Week. Christopher Columbus is participating in the celebrations. In Seville, a statue of Columbus was erected to celebrate his achievement in discovering America. However, there is another tomb in the cathedral, and it is the tomb of Hernando Columbus, Christopher Columbus’ son. Today the papers of Christopher Columbus are well cared for her. Christopher Columbus carefully detailed his voyages and geography. It was said that Christopher Columbus made his way to Iceland and it is here that we are introduced to Leif Erickson. Iceland is the land of the sagas. Leif grew up on his father’s farm. His father was Erik the Red. Erik was eventually exiled from Iceland because he killed someone. After this, Erik would take his family to Greenland, a land covered with ice. Erik would come back to Iceland and announce he discovered a “Green Land.” He convinced many people to come over and settle in Greenland. The documentary then transitions to a dig in Iceland. This ship seems to hint as to why people left Iceland. It was a Viking homestead. It would have been established after much of Iceland was settled. Resources and land were becoming scarce in Iceland, so there would be a need for more land. Eventually, the Vikings would turn their eyes to Greenland. Getting to Greenland and settling in Greenland would be a challenge. The Viking sagas also mention Vinland. What would make Leif Erickson leave Greenland? Where was Vinland? How far did the Vikings explore the Americas? Would Christopher Columbus know about these Viking Sagas? Would he realize that there was land in the West? This documentary really did spend a lot of time on the Viking journeys to America. I was expecting equal timing for all three men mentioned at the start of the documentary but that did not happen. Then there is a discussion on the Cornish connection to the discovery of the Americas, this felt really short and came really late in the documentary. I thought the Cornish fishermen would have been mentioned instead of a Cornish Prince. The Cornish Prince story was a very interesting story and the evidence was compelling. To learn more about the explorers before Columbus continue to watch the rest of this documentary. This documentary goes to show that there are discoveries continuously being made that will have an impact on how we understand history. The island in Greenland where polar bears were kept was a pretty random and interesting tidbit to learn. It was also fascinating to learn how technology hinted at another Viking settlement but excavation found nothing. This was a refreshing change of pace when it comes to documentaries about the discovery of the Americas with know-it-all-better-than-you-historians that serve to annoy the viewer rather than inform the viewer. I really wish that this documentary would have been divided into chapters to help facilitate easier viewing and to divide it up for lectures. Better yet, with the implied size of Christopher Columbus’ library, this could have been spread out over three episodes, one episode looking at Leif Erickson, the other looking at Prince Madoc, and the other at the African expedition. There is also a good discussion on how drones are used to look for anomalies to help determine where to dig. Overall, even though I felt like there was some time sacrificed and it could have been longer, this is a good documentary to show to a history class.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Author
The reviews I do are my opinion and my opinion only. My opinions should always be taken with a grain of salt. I just want to help teachers out selecting documentaries. Worksheets
My Teachers Pay Teachers Store! Worksheets available as a Word Document.
Lulu Store
I am also on Lulu! If you're interested in genealogy I have several books available!
Archives
May 2024
Categories
All
Privacy Policy
HistoryDocTube will not collect any personal information and will not sell any personal information to a third party. We will not request any personal information.
The purpose of this blog is to share information on what can be used in a classroom, private school, or home school setting as well as serve as a portfolio of my personal and professional work. The reviews are my opinions and should be treated as such. I just want to provide a tool for teachers to select documentaries for their classrooms. |