Melody Herr - Exploring the New World: An Interactive History Adventure

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YOU live in an era of exploration. Will you explore the New World with European adventurers or will you protect it with the American Indians who have always called it home? How will your choices impact your life?

In this book, youll explore how the choices people made meant the difference between life and death. The events youll experience happened to real people.

Chapter One sets the scene. Then you choose which path to read. Follow the links at the bottom of each page as you read the stories. The decisions you make will change your outcome. After you finish one path, go back and read the others for new perspectives and more adventures. Use your device's back buttons or page navigation to jump back to your last choice.

YOU CHOOSE the path you take through history.

It is a time of great discoveries. For Europeans, North America and South America are the New World. Explorers set out to claim land, spread their religion, and find riches.

Due to these European visitors, life for the native people changes forever. Explorers bring new words and a new religion to the American Indians. They bring unfamiliar tools, plants, and animals. They also bring terrible diseases.

Early European explorers traveled several months across the Atlantic Ocean to reach the New World.

Your adventure into the New World will introduce you to Christopher Columbus, Francisco Vzquez de Coronado, and Ren-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle. Each one explores a different part of the New World in a different century. Each meets a different group of native people.

Columbus sails from Spain in 1492. Spices, silk, and jewels from Asia bring high prices in Europe. But traveling eastward across Europe to Asia takes many months and is very expensive. Columbus believes he can find a cheaper shortcut by sailing west across the Atlantic Ocean. But Columbus doesnt know that North and South America lie in the way.

In 1540, stories about the Seven Cities of Cbola spread through Spains American colonies. Coronado hopes to find fame and riches by searching for these cities made of gold. But he doesnt have a map.

In December 1681, La Salle sets out from Lake Michigan. He plans to canoe down the Mississippi River to the Gulf of Mexico to claim land for the king of France. Hes ready to face wild animals, unfriendly Indians, and other unknown dangers.

Today is October 12, 1492. Three ships sail toward a string of islands. Columbus and his sailors think theyve reached the Indies, their name for East Asia. In fact, theyre close to North America.

Christopher Columbus led three ships, the Nia, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria, across the Atlantic Ocean in 1492.

The American Indians living on these islands call themselves the Tainos. They have never seen ships or met Europeans.

Both groups of people are about to meet. Neither group knows it, but their lives will change forever.

At midnight, you stand on the deck of the Santa Maria. You squint, trying to see into the night. The other two ships, the Nia and the Pinta, look like shadows. You really hope to see land soon.

When Columbus told you King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain sponsored his voyage, you joined eagerly. Now, though, youve been sailing for more than two months. Columbus shortcut to the Indies doesnt seem so short. You cant wait to tour the cities and buy spices, silk, and jewels.

Boom! Boom! You hear the Pintas cannon roar. That signal means the crew sees land.

As the sun rises, you see an island. You row a small boat to shore with Columbus and the other two ship captains. You stick a flag and a cross in the sand to claim the island for Spain.

Columbus men planted a flag in the sand to claim the island for Spain.

The people of the island gather around you on the beach. To your surprise, these Indians arent wearing silk robes as you would expect Asians to wear. In fact, theyre not wearing anything but loincloths!

Wheres the city of your ruler, the Great Khan? you ask. Since the Indians dont speak Spanish, you try using sign language. They point across the water.

Columbus leads the fleet from island to island. Instead of cities, he finds villages. After a few weeks, the captain of the Pinta, Martn Alonso Pinzn, approaches you. Columbus will never find the Great Khans palaces. Lets take my ship and go exploring on our own.

You mean desert Columbus? Well go to jail, you warn.

Not if we find the Khans cities first. If we beat Columbus back to Spain, the queen will give us the reward, Pinzn replies.

You and Columbus explore an island he names Hispaniola. By now its December. Its winter in Spain. Here on the islands, though, the days feel like spring. The birds shine more beautifully than jewels, you think, and the flowers smell sweeter than spices. But I still want to find the Khans kingdom.

On Christmas Eve, the sailor in charge of the ships tiller leaves his post. With no one to steer the Santa Maria, it hits a sandbar. The tide runs out, leaving the ship stranded on dry ground. With a loud crack, the ships hull splits open.

How will we get back to Spain? Columbus worries. The tiny Nia cant carry all the sailors.

We should leave some men to start a colony on Hispaniola, you suggest.

The Santa Maria broke apart after hitting a sandbar near the island of Hispaniola.

Columbus smiles. Good idea. Ill name the new colony La Navidad because today is Christmas Eve. He gives orders to build a fort.

On January 6, 1493, you climb aboard the Nia for the voyage back to Spain. As you sail away from Hispaniola, you spot the Pinta.

Theres Pinzn, you say to Columbus. Lets arrest him!

No, Columbus replies, not yet. We need his help. If the Nia and the Pinta sail together, we have a better chance of reaching home safely. Columbus sends a message to Pinzn, who comes to the