Today's American Minute

King Henry VII Patent to John Cabot (March 5, 1496): <Henry, by the Grace of God, king of England...Greeting. Be it known that we have given...our well beloved John Cabot citizen of Venice...authority...to sail to all parts, country, and seas of the East, of the West, and of the North, under our banners...to seek out, discover, and find whatsoever isles, countries, regions or provinces of the heathen and infidels whatsoever they be, and in what part of the world soever they be, which before this time have been unknown to all Christians.> 1496KH001 -- American Quotations by William J. Federer,...

Leif Eirkson (c.970-c.1020) voyaged around 1000 AD in the first attempt of Europeans to settle the coast of "Vineland," generally accepted to be Newfoundland in North America. Sailing Viking longboats, Leif, and later his brothers, Thorvald and Thorstein, and sister Freydis, all children of Eric the Red, explored and built a temporary settlement there, which included a church, but conflict with natives led to its abandonment, Thorvald being killed by an arrow. The Saga of Erik the Red contains the account of Norse exploration of North America. Thought to have been written in the 13th century, the Saga is preserved...

Martin Luther (November 10, 1483-February 18, 1546) was the leader of the Protestant Reformation in Germany, and was renowned for his enduring literary contribution of translating the Bible into the German language. He became an Augustinian friar and in 1507 was ordained. In 1510 he visited Rome, where he was shocked by the worldliness. He received his doctorate of divinity and in 1512 was appointed professor of philosophy at the University of Wittenberg, where he was promoted to the position of district vicar. In 1452, Muslim Turks conquered Constantinople, cutting off Europe's land routes east to India and China. This...