You're listening to an airwave media podcast. Let it home. On October 12, 1492, at about 2 o'clock in the morning, a man named Rodrigo de Triana shouted out from his small ship the words,

Tierra, Tierra, or land, land.

That moment marks one of the pivotal events in world history.

Europeans were returning to the Americas for the first time since the age of the Vikings.

No one realized it at the time, but it was a feat epic in nature.

The discovery, or rediscovery is probably a better term, of the Americas

would open up a new age, not just for Western civilization, but for the entire world.

The man behind this epic voyage was a 41-year-old Genoese mariner,

Christopher Columbus, arguably the most famous explorer in all of history. In some ways,

doing a podcast about Columbus is a bit daunting. I mean, he's such a critical figure in history.

You don't want to screw up the story of such an important and recognized individual.

Another challenge about telling the story of Columbus is that there is a lot written about him.

Sometimes too much information makes writing these scripts more difficult, as you have to call through so many sources to find your story.

It's sort of like starting a thousand-piece jigsaw

puzzle. In some ways you have trouble just getting going because you dread dumping all those pieces

onto a table and just trying to figure out how to begin. However, while having so much information about

Columbus can be a challenge, it's also a blessing. It just gives us so much more to draw upon.

I do want to note that a lot of sources means a lot of conflicting information.

Please know that, like a lot of subjects on this podcast, I've gone with the best information that I feel is available about Columbus and his voyages.

But we should remember that things don't always mesh from source to source.

Ultimately you just have to take a stab at what's best and move on.

I think we all understand that this dilemma is simply the nature of this beast.

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