A historian is able to scrutinize two dissimilar documents from a point of history and compare them adequately. My professor presented the opportunity for my peers and I to become historians by writing a paper on imperial history. I was provided with the letter from the emperor Qianlong of China to King George III and I compared it to the letter from Christopher Columbus to Luis De Sant Angel. Both letters are from imperial history and they can be associated with the process of trading. Each letter can be analyzed by evaluating what is essential for both authors and the society they are depicting. In 1793, George III of Britain sent a letter to China to verbalize with the Qianlong Emperor. His motivation was to talk about the condition of exchange in the middle of China and England, who at the time had enormously thorough …show more content…
In the event that he had the capacity discover, this course, Spain would consequently control exchange inside Asia; the profits of this course were huge. Though he was not able to discover the course, he discovered the "New World" rather and harbors for exchange. Columbus states “In it there are many harbors on the coast of the sea, beyond comparison with others which I know in Christendom, and many rivers, wonderful and glorious large, which is marvelous.” This portion of Columbus about the shore of the new world depicts hot he channels of the coast make for incredible harbors. This was a great degree vital point of interest for investigating amid that time ever. Seaports permitted exploration and the people of the land to travel and trade with ease. Columbus realized that harbors were an extremely noteworthy part of area as domain and as a focal motivation behind why a territory is portrayed as great. The things that are depicted as important in Columbus’ letter are rather different than Qianlong, but both letters are around the central idea of
When Columbus landed in the Bahamas in 1492, he thought he reached Asia. He has made himself believe that he has found the New World and that he was the first to inhabit the land. This was not the case as an Indian Tribe, the Arawaks, was swimming to their boats with excitement. As Columbus’s crew arrived on the shores, he was shocked from the Indians hospitality. Columbus was carrying iron swords as the tribes brought gifts, food and water.
Christopher Columbus sailed west to find a new trade route to the Far East but
In 1793, in the midst of the French revolution in Europe, Emperor Qianlong of the Qing state, who reigned over the Chinese empire from 1735-95, responded to a request made by an envoy sent by King George III of Britain. The envoy sent, known as the Macartney embassy and fronted by Lord Macartney, was for the purpose of discussing the condition of relations between Great Britain and the Qing empire and possible alterations to their state of trade. By the time the letter was written and the embassy arrived in the Chinese capital city Peking ( known as Beijing), Qianlong ruled the largest and wealthiest political state anywhere in the world, ruling over one third of the worlds population. These notions of prosperity and grandeur as an Empire, led Qianlong to reject all proposals sent by the King of Britain and his embassy.
Qianlong emperor’s reaction to Macartney’s mission angered the British as well. Qianlong emperor’s over confidence was shown in the court when he met the British ambassador Macartney. He required Macartney to wear Chinese clothes and practice Chinese kowtow. “But Macartney was not going to obligate, or rather he would perform the three-times-three only if some mandarin also kowtowed before his own sovereign George III, a portrait of whom he had thoughtfully included in his baggage” (32). Even though China had a great power during that time, Macartney did not considered himself as who came from a weaker country. China did not think it needed products from foreign countries. “Chinese needed nothing and traded a little with tribute-bearing barbarians only out of affectionate
Christopher Columbus achieved remarkable success in the New World by discovering new lands and presenting an opportunity for new development. Over the course of four voyages across the Atlantic Ocean, Columbus ignited the conquest and colonization of land in the New World. He recorded his experiences in journals and letters for future navigators and sailors to read and learn from. The benefits that arose from his expeditions were known as the Columbian Exchange, which included the transfer of people, resources, and culture, all of which significantly impacted society worldwide. His world changing legacy impacted the development of the territory in the New World and increased trade, resources, and economic stability for Europe.
Columbus was a very good speaker and very persuasive. He convinced the King and Queen of Spain to fund his expedition to “Asia” and he told about all the gold and spices that would be discovered there and how they would be wealthy.# Columbus told them his famous terms which stated that he would receive no less than one-tenth of all the wealth that would arrive from Asia
Throughout recorded human history, authors, leaders, and researchers, have documented the past from many different perspectives, and viewpoints. Not every historian has the same stance on a certain issue, therefore, differences in point of view occur in almost every writing. In the textbook The American Pageant, A People’s History of the United States by Larry Schweikart, and Michael Allen, and Howard Zinn’s A People’s History of the United States, the reader can see many different perspectives throughout each reading. The infamous explorer known as Christopher Columbus, has been documented in many different ways. Depending on the reading, Columbus has be called everything from a “[...]symbol of the new age of hope”, to an inhuman tyrant who captured Indians and turned them into slaves.
The main idea behind the voyage was to find a faster route to the Indies, as well as introduce Christianity and The King and Queen to the new world along with its inhabitants. As said by Columbus “Your Highnesses, as Catholic Christians, and princes who love and promote the holy Christian faith, and are enemies of the doctrine of Mahomet, and of all idolatry and heresy, determined to send me, Christopher Columbus, to the above-mentioned countries of India, to see the said princes, people, and territories, and to learn their disposition and the proper method of converting them to our holy faith; and furthermore directed that I should not proceed by land to the East, as is customary, but by a Westerly route, in which direction we have hitherto no certain evidence that any one has gone.” Like said, it shows that Columbus wished to find a faster route, so Spain could easily be able to obtained traded goods which would produce more profit for the country of Spain. This kind of shows that Spain needed to find this route due
It is thought by many that Christopher Columbus was a skilled sailor on a mission of greed. Many think that he in fact did it all for the money, honor and the status that comes with an explorer, but this is not the case entirely. Columbus was an adventurer and was enthused by the thrill of the quest of the unknown. “Columbus had a firm religious faith and a scientific curiosity, a zest for life, the felling for beauty and the striving for novelty that we associate with the advancement of learning”. He had heard of the legendary Atlantic voyages and sailors reports of land to the west of Madeira and the Azores. He believed that Japan was about 4,800 km to the west of Portugal. In 1484, Columbus wanted support for an exploratory
To prevent possible death and punishment, he had to say what he did. It would also help later on with the Indians on any return trip if they had excellent relations with each other. His purpose of the narrative was the economic development of the new territory and to ensure his place in it. Not able to do it on his own, he needed to get more money from the king and queen of Spain. The reason he had to do that was Europeans had already traded with China and the Far East. However, they did not know anything of the New World other than what he and the rest of his crew had written. That is why Columbus had to sell them on the opportunities he discovered. That is why he ended his letter with, “In conclusion, to speak only of that which has been accomplished on this voyage. Which was so hasty their highness can see that I will give them as much gold as they may need if their highnesses will render me very slight assistance; moreover I will give them spices and cotton, as much as their highness shall command.” One could say that he was a land developer trying to sell the new world to the crown of Spain. It is now understandable now how he was able to secure funding for more voyages, and start the great exodus of explorers to the new world. Kupperman stated in her article “Reading Columbus's Diario, even in the imperfect form in which it has come down to us, is exhilarating; it allows us to participate in
For my compare and contrast paper I decide to write about Christopher Columbus because he is big in geography and his name is known throughout the world, and not only in the United States, and he did a lot in his lifetime. And I know every student will learn about him in schools. Christopher Columbus is mentioned in Davis’ book; however, I also decide to do my own research as well.
Marco Polo's Travels formulated in Europe of the fourteenth and fifteenth century a new perception of the Eastern world, a world just as advanced and sophisticated as that of the West. Yet, another two centuries were needed for a significant change to take place; this was Christopher Columbus' voyage. For Christopher Columbus, Marco Polo's travelogue was a valuable and solid resource that contained the necessary details of the East. The geographical descriptions in his writing generated a basis for Columbus' scientific calculations for his expedition and the explicit depictions of the luxury of Cipangu and Cathay, flawed though they were, created a strong motivation for Columbus. In the 12th of May 1492, Christopher Columbus, accompanied
Christopher Columbus and John Smith will always be remembered for their ego in their leadership. For many residence of Virginia, John Smith is considered as a hero. However, recorded documents provide varying evidence on his leadership and life in general. On the other hand, Christopher Columbus is seen as an explorer who encountered the Americans and was able to achieve immorality to satisfy his egos. He took advantage of every opportunity and is considered to be a leader who did not accept no as an answer which enable him to succeed and even come back to influence after a great misfortune. It is however clear that the success of Smith and Columbus as leaders of exploration can be attributed to their egos. Their writings were full of imaginations and fiction and are considered by some historians to be liars about the newly discovered world.
Christopher Columbus and John Smith are both similar in the fact that they made their kin very proud and became famous of their accounts of unexplored territory. Though their ideas of what to do with what they encountered was different, they both were very brave men. They were different in a way though. Columbus believed that there was a great value in terms of wealth to the natural resources he saw on the islands and he used a different rhetoric to explain it. John Smith saw economic growth possibilities in the fertile New England area that had a vast amount of natural resources, he also valued different commodities than Columbus.
Directions: The following question is based on the accompanying Documents 1- 13 (The documents have been edited for the purpose of this exercise.) This question is designed to test your ability to work with and understand historical documents. Write an essay that: Has a relevant thesis and supports that thesis with evidence from the documents. Uses all or all but one of the documents. Analyzes the documents by grouping them in as many appropriate ways as possible. Does not simply summarize the documents individually. Takes into account both the sources of the documents and the author’s points of view.