This is a short four-chapter book meant for children. It tells the story of a smart, young boy who creates a time machine and embarks on a trip with his father, a historian, around Colombian history. They will explore the pre-Columbian period, the C...
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Year 1525, Santa Marta, Colombia
When they arrived at their destiny, they came down from the time machine and they found a place full of trees and in front of them the most beautiful sea that Thomas and his father had ever seen.
"We are in the year 1525, in Santa Marta, the oldest city in Colombia", said Dad.
"It's beautiful," said Thomas.
When they were exploring, they met a white man with a long beard and armor who was pointing a sword at two men kneeling, half-naked with cinnamon-colored skin.
"Who are they?", asked Thomas.
"The men with the sword is Spanish and the kneeling people are indigenous people who live here", his father replied.
"Why is he targeting at them?"
"The Spaniards want to take the lands of the indigenous people", he answered.
"But what have they done?"
"Nothing. The Spaniards just want their treasures."
"As a pirate's treasures?", Thomas asked enthusiastically.
"No, son. Treasures that come from the earth like emeralds, gold, silver, etc.", replied his father while laughing.
While they were talking Thomas saw how the Spaniard hurt an Indian.
"We have to stop him!", said Thomas.
"Remember, son. We cannot interfere with what happened. Besides, I think that there is nothing we can do", replied the father.
When Thomas raised his gaze, he saw thousands of Indians in chains while a man on his horse examined them.
"Who is he?", asked Thomas.
"It's Rodrigo de Bastidas, he founded Santa Marta," said his astonished father.
"I think it's better to leave!", said Thomas, worried when he saw some Spaniards making their way to where they were hidden.
They started running very scared and climbed quickly to the time machine.
...
Year 1537, Santafé de Bogotá, Colombia
"Now we are in Bogotá, the capital of Colombia," said the father.
"It's very similar to Santa Marta, only without the beach", Thomas replied.
In that place there were also enslaved Indians, only that it seemed that the number of Spaniards was greater than in Santa Marta. While they were walking, Thomas stepped on a sheet of paper that had something written on it, when he picked it up he began to read.
"Good land, good land!
Land that puts an end to our grief!
Land of gold, land suffocated,
Land to make a perpetual house,
Land with abundance of food,
Land of big towns, flat land,
Land where you see people dressed,
and to his times the grill does not taste bad:
Land of blessing, clear and serene,
Land that puts an end to our grief!
-Juan de Castellanos"
"I see why Bogotá became the capital", Thomas said later.
"It's true", said the father, amazed at what his son had just read.
The two of them went back to the time machine to continue discovering.
...
Year 1781, Santander, Colombia.
When Thomas got off the time machine there was a war! There was fire, weapons, and explosions. When the father got off, as he saw his son so scared he said:
"Do not be afraid, son, this has already happened, we are at The War of the Communards".
"But I do not understand dad, why did the war start?" asked Tom.
"It happened because people who lived in America wanted a better economic and political treatment, such as the reduction of taxes by the Spanish Crown".
"Dad can we go? I do not want to keep seeing this", said Tom.
"Sure, son, let's go", his father answered.
...
Year 1800, Magdalena River, Colombia
When they arrived the first thing they saw was four men drawing everything that was around them.
"Dad, what are those men doing?" Tom asked.
"They are doing the Royal Botanical Expedition".
"What is that?"
"It is, summing up, an inventory of the nature that the Spanish Crown asked these men to do", said the father, fascinated.
"And who are they?" asked Tom.
"They, son, are: José Celestino Mutis, Agustín Codazzi, Manuel Ancízar and José Jerónimo Triana", replied the father.
"What beautiful drawings, and how detailed they are," said Tom.
"They had to be, Tom, since at that time they had no photography, this was the only way in which the kings could see the land they had conquered years ago"
After appreciating for a while, Tom and his father returned to their time machine to continue their adventure.
