1. Bell Ringer #3 When Cristoforo Colombo– or Christopher Columbus– set sail from Spain on August 3, 1492, he brought with him a scholar who spoke Arabic. Why did Columbus think this was necessary? Explain your answer as fully as possible in two or three sentences.
2. Bell Ringer #4 When Columbus first arrived in the Caribbean region in 1492, the population on the island of Hispaniola was about 300,000. Fifty years later, the population was virtually gone. So was most of the population of the Bahamas. What were the causes of this population change? What unfortunate practice did this population drop lead to in the New World? Explain your answer in one clear paragraph. Be as specific as possible.