The topics of Columbus's voyages of exploration, the first encounters between Amerindians and Europeans, and the ensuing collision of their respective worlds provide ample opportunities for creative and stimulating pedagogical approaches that go beyond the stale memorization of dates, places, and names. This essay and accompanying classroom exercise approach the encounter between Europe and the Americas as a prolonged process of intellectual creation rather than physical discovery, what Mexican historian Edmundo O'Gorman called "the invention of America." (Contains 8 notes.)