Students in Georgia (USA) take two years of World Studies from sixth to seventh grade. They pick up the story again in World History class, often taken in tenth grade. During that time they study the "discovery" of the New World by Christopher Columbus and other topics. This article, and the map, bring up a different possibility for the "accidental unearthing" of Columbus' findings. Rather than seeking a faster route to the markets of Asia, Howard French suggests that the impetus of the exploration was the desire to get at African gold.