Seeds of Change

Nearly 500 years ago, Christopher Columbus sailed from Spain in search of a trade route to the riches of Asia. He landed instead in the Americas. European explorers who followed thought that they had discovered a new world, but what they had really discovered was a world that was new to them.

Native Americans had been living in the lands Europeans thought were “new” for more than 10,000 years. By the time the Europeans arrived in the late 1400s, there were already many Native American cultures in the Americas. These cultures spoke different languages and lived in different ways. Some Native Americans lived in large cities. Others were farmers who lived in small villages. Still others were hunters and gatherers. They moved when they needed more food. Many of the tools and resources the explorers brought with them from Europe were unfamiliar to Native Americans. Likewise, many Native American resources and tools were new to Europeans. Contact between these two cultures would change life in the Americas.

Columbus and his ships along the northern shore of Cuba

Untitled, Date Unknown, Artist Unknown. Hand-colored woodcut. North Wind Picture Archives.