Today's American Minute

Isabella I (April 22, 1451-November 26, 1504) was the Queen of Castile, who in 1481 married Ferdinand II, King of Aragon, thereby unifying Christian Spain. They successfully drove the Moors from Granada and financed Christopher Columbus' expedition to the Indies, which resulted in the discovery of America. In her commission to Columbus, Queen Isabella recited that the purpose of the voyage was: <For the Glory of God....it is hoped that by God's assistance some of the continents and islands in the oceans will be discovered.> 1451QI001 Queen Isabella informed the Pope of Columbus' attempt: <To bear the light of Christ...

Christopher Columbus (1451-May 20, 1506) was a Genoese explorer who sailed to America. After Muslim Turks conquered Constantinople in 1453, land routes were cut off from Europe to India and China. These land routes were used in the time of Venitian explorer Marco Polo, who travelled to China in 1271 and brought back stories of Beijing's Kublai Khan, Chinese gunpowder, charcoal, porcelein, silk, paper currency, and spaghetti. India was a trade destination for its dyes, spices and teas. When the Turkish Ottoman Muslims captured the Byzantine Empire, and Europe's Crusades were unsuccessful in regaining the land, Europe's monarchs sought new...

Hornbook (1442-1800) was the schoolbook used to teach children to read in early English, and later American, schools. Invented in response to the expense and scarcity of paper, the hornbook consisted of one sheet of vellum or paper pasted to a flat board with a handle, shaped like a table-tennis paddle, and covered over with a thin piece of transparent cow's horn, giving the appearance of lamination. On the paper was printed the Criss-Cross Row (Christ's-Cross followed by the alphabet), the Benediction, the Lord's Prayer, and the Roman numerals. The hornbook ceased being used in the early 1800's, when paper...

Johannes Gutenberg (c.1400-February 3, 1468) was the German inventor of the moveable-type printing press, which helped revolutionize the Western world. This invention prepared Europe for the rapid spread of ideas, making the Reformation possible. The first book of significance ever printed was the 42-line Gutenberg Bible, known as the Mazarin Bible, 1455. Johannes Gutenberg wrote: <God suffers in the multitude of souls whom His word can not reach. Religious truth is imprisoned in a small number of manuscript books which confine instead of spread the public treasure. Let us break the seal which seals up holy things and give wings...