Christopher Columbus

Columbus, Christopher (1451-1506), Italian Spanish navigator who sailed west across the Atlantic Ocean in search of a route to Asia but achieved fame by making landfall in the Americas instead. On October 12, 1492, two worlds unknown to each other met for the first time on a small island in the Caribbean Sea . While on a voyage for Spain in search of a direct sea route from Europe to Asia, Christopher Columbus unintentionally discovered the Americas. However, in four separate voyages to the Caribbean from 1492 to 1504, he remained convinced that he had found the lands that Marco Polo reached in his overland travels to China at the end of the 13th century. To Columbus it was only a matter of time before a passage was found through the Caribbean islands to the fabled cities of Asia. Columbus was not the first European to reach the AmericasVikings from Scandinavia had briefly settled on the North American coast, in what is now Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, in the late 10th or early 11th century. However, Columbuss explorations had a profound impact on the world. They led directly to the opening of the western hemisphere to European colonization; to large-scale exchanges of plants, animals, cultures, and ideas between the two worlds; and, on a darker note, to the deaths of millions of indigenous American peoples from war, forced labor, and disease. Understanding Christopher Columbus is difficult without understanding the world into which he was born. The 15th century was a century of change, and many events that occurred during that time profoundly affected European society. Many of these events were driven by the centuries-long conflict between Christians and Muslims, followers of the religion known as Islam.

The event that had the most far-reaching effects on Europe in the 15th century was the fall of the city of Constantinople (modern Istanbul, Turkey) to the Muslim Ottoman Empire. Constantinople had been the capital of the

Orthodox Christian Byzantine Empire for centuries, and it was an important center for trade between Europe and Asia. In 1453 the Ottoman Empire, which had already conquered much of southeastern Europe, captured the city, closing an important trade route from Europe to the east (see Ottoman Empire). European merchants could still buy Asian goods from Muslims in places such as Alexandria, Egypt. However, Europeans longed for a sea route to Asia that would allow them to bypass the Muslims and purchase Asian products directly. In addition, European princes and kings quickly realized that the first nation to find such a route could become very wealthy by monopolizing the highly profitable Asian trade. The first European nation to begin actively seeking a sea route to Asia was Portugal. The Portuguese had already begun exploring Africa in the early 1400s, and in 1415 they invaded northern Africa and conquered the Muslim commercial center of Ceuta on the Strait of Gibraltar. This gained the Portuguese access to the lucrative African trade, which, until that time, had been dominated by the Muslims. Under the tutelage of Prince Henry the Navigator, who established a school for navigators in southern Portugal shortly after the Ceuta invasion, the Portuguese began exploring the western coast of Africa, hoping to find a route to the riches of Asia by going around the southern tip of the continent. Other nations, not wanting to be left behind, began sponsoring voyages of exploration as well. Into this world, full of the excitement of exploration and discovery, Christopher Columbus was born.

Do you know why the ocean is blue? - Because fish make blue, blue, blue, blue...

Waiter, I can't eat this soup! Waiter: I'm sorry, Sir. I'll call the cook. Cook: What's the problem, Sir? Man: I'm sorry but I can't eat this soup? Cook: Why not, Sir? Man: Because I haven't got a spoon!.

Girl: You would be a good dancer except for two things. Boy: What are the two things? Girl: Your feet.

A family of mice were surprised by a big cat. Father Mouse jumped and and said, "Bow-wow!" The cat ran away. "What was that, Father?" asked Baby Mouse. "Well, son, that's why it's important to learn a second language."

The doctor to the patient: 'You are very sick' The patient to the doctor: 'Can I get a second opinion?' The doctor again: 'Yes, you are very ugly too...'

Mental Health and Physical Activity

Mental Health and Physical Activity is an international forum for scholarly reports on any aspect of relevance to advancing our understanding of the relationship between mental health and physical activity. Manuscripts will be considered for publication which deal with high quality research, comprehensive research reviews, and critical reflection of applied or research issues. The journal is open to the use of diverse methodological approaches. Reports of practice will need to demonstrate academic rigour, preferably through analysis of programme effectiveness, and go beyond mere description. The aims of Mental Health and Physical Activity are: (1) to foster the inter-disciplinary development and understanding of the mental health and physical activity field; (2) to develop research designs and methods to advance our understanding; (3) to promote the publication of high quality research on the effects of physical activity (interventions and a single session) on a wide range of dimensions of mental health and psychological well-being (e.g., depression, anxiety and stress responses, mood, cognitive functioning and neurological disorders, such as dementia, self-esteem and related constructs, psychological aspects of quality of life among people with physical and mental illness, sleep, addictive disorders, eating disorders), from both efficacy and effectiveness trials; (4) to promote high quality research on the biophysical and psychosocial mechanisms involved to help our understanding of the link between physical activity and mental health, and guide intervention development; (5) to provide an evidence-based source for professionals working in the field of mental health and a forum to consider service delivery issues.

D i d

y o u

k n o w ?

The starfish is one of the only animals that can turn its stomach out

Use headphones for just an hour, increases the number of bacteria in your ear by 700 times

The word comes from the Greek cemetery koimetirion meaning bedroom

A person blinks about 25,000 times a day

THE

EATWELL

PLATE

Use the eatwell plate to help you get the balance right. It shows how much of what you eat should come from each food group