Welcome to Bedtime History.
Hello, this is Breck.
I'm super excited to announce Bedtime History's very first novel.
It's a fast-paced time travel adventure about two teen agents who work for a secret organization that protects history.
Their mission is to stop a mysterious enemy from changing the past and messing up the future.
Along the way they visit iconic locations, meet famous adventurers and learn why these moments in history matter.
It's packed with action, curiosity and imagination, perfect for kids who love adventure and discovering how the world was shaped.
The book is now available on Amazon as both an e-book and print book.
Just search Explorer Society, World's Fair Conspiracy or check the show notes of my latest episodes for a direct link.
I'd love for you to check it out, and all proceeds go to supporting Bedtime History.
The year was 1492.
The salty wind blew through the sails of three wooden ships.
The sky was clear and blue.
A man stood at the front of the biggest ship.
His name was Christopher Columbus.
His eyes looked out across the sea.
He had been sailing for weeks.
His men were tired, some were scared, but Columbus believed he was close to land.
He thought he would find a new way to reach Asia.
He had no idea that he was about to land somewhere very different.
He did not know his voyage would change history forever.
Christopher Columbus was born in 1451 in the city of Genoa in what is now Italy.
His real name in Italian was Cristoforo Colombo.
His father was a wool weaver.
Columbus helped in his father's shop when he was a boy.
But Columbus didn't want to weave wool.
He dreamed of sailing.
As a teenager, he started working on ships.
He learned to sail.
He learned how to read maps.
He even survived a shipwreck and swam to shore.
At that time, people in Europe wanted spices, silk, and gold from Asia.
But traveling east to Asia was hard and dangerous.
The land route was long.
There were many problems along the way.
Some people began to wonder, what if there was a faster way to Asia by sea?
Columbus had a bold idea.
He believed he could sail west across the Atlantic Ocean and reach Asia that way.
Most people thought the trip was too long.
They didn't think it would work.
But Columbus believed the Earth was round.
He thought Asia was much closer than it really was.
Columbus did not know that a huge continent, North and South America, lay in his path.
Columbus needed money to go on his journey.
He asked the kings of Portugal and England for help.
They said no.
But in Spain, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella said yes.
They promised him ships and supplies.
In return, Columbus promised to bring back riches and spread the Christian faith.
On August 3 1492, Columbus set sail from Spain with three ships the Niña, the Pinta and the Santa Maria.
The ships were small.
The cabins were tight and dark.
There was not much food.
The sailors ate salted meat and hard biscuits.
The sea was rough at times.
Many sailors grew afraid.
They worried they would never find land.
Some even wanted to turn back.
Columbus tried to keep the men calm.
He told them land was near.
He kept two logs of the journey, one true and one with shorter distances, to make the men feel better.
After more than two months at sea, the crew saw signs.
Birds flew nearby, branches floated in the water.
Then on October 12, 1492, a sailor on the Pinta shouted, Land!
The ships had reached an island in what is now the Bahamas.
Columbus called the island San Salvador.
He thought he had reached islands near Asia.
He was wrong, but he did not know it.
On the island, Columbus met the Taino people.
They were kind and friendly.
They gave gifts and helped the sailors, but Columbus saw them as people to be used.
He wanted to take their gold and make them work for Spain.
He wrote in his journal that they would make good servants.
Columbus explored other islands too, including parts of what is now Cuba and Hispaniola.
He claimed the lands for Spain.
He took some of the Taino people back to Europe with him.
He wanted to show the king and queen what he had found.
Columbus returned to Spain in March 1493.
People cheered for him.
The king and queen were pleased.
They gave him more ships and more men for another voyage.
Columbus made three more trips across the Atlantic.
He never found Asia, but he explored more islands and parts of Central and South America.
On his later voyages, things did not go well.
Many settlers became sick.
There were fights between the Spanish and the native people.
Columbus was blamed for poor leadership.
He was even arrested and sent back to Spain in chains.
Though he was later freed, he lost his power and never led another voyage.
Columbus died in 1506.
He still believed he had reached Asia.
He never knew he had found lands that were new to Europeans.
Other explorers came after him.
They learned that this was a new continent, the Americas.
Columbus's voyages were important.
They opened the door for other Europeans to explore the Americas.
But his journeys also brought harm.
Many native people were forced to work or lost their lives.
Diseases from Europe killed millions of people in the Americas.
New foods, animals, and ideas were shared between Europe and the Americas.
This is called the Columbian Exchange.
It changed the world.
Today, people have many different opinions about Columbus.
Some people see him as a brave explorer.
Others see him as someone who hurt native people.
In the United States, some states celebrate Columbus Day in October.
Others celebrate Indigenous Peoples Day to honor the people who lived in the Americas first.
Christopher Columbus did not set out to discover a new world.
He wanted to find a new path to Asia.
But his mistake changed history.
His voyage was the start of big changes for Europe, for the Americas, and for the world.
