How did europeans establish such a strong command in the world economy and affairs?Well, by establishing new sea lanes and trade routes to all parts of the world. Trade routes that shaped the world into what it is today. The exploration was not for conquest but for matter of survival. This matter of survival turned into a opportunity for world dominance which the Europeans took full advantage of. I will be arguing that by establishing trade routes all over the world, European were able to challenge and dominate the social, political, and most important the economical structures of the world. The motivations that encouraged exploration of sea were the cultivation of cash crops, establish new trade routes to Asian markets, expand the influence of Christianity, and to avoid and compete against Muslim trade and intermediaries. To avoid the Muslim intermediaries, the Europeans demand for direct access to Asia and Africa was high priority. This …show more content…
European countries had lacked many resources like food, clothing, and technology. The products that were coming to them from Asia were attracting more and more Europeans. Therefore, to have more profit from trade, the Europeans wanted to avoid the Muslim intermediaries and have direct access to the trading destinations such as India, China, and Africa. When the countries from Europe sent explorers to find new lands, they had sent them fully equipped with fleet of ships, gold, and food. Whenever these explorers had discovered there intended destination, they would take over the harbor and create a trade post. For example, Portugal in the mid sixteenth century had 50 trading posts in Africa and Asia. By creating trading post, this forced merchants to buy “safe conduct passes” and they were presented at the trading post. If these rules were broken, the punishment was death or the accounted victims hands would be cut
Europeans were motivated to conquest to gain money, and trade was one of the channels where they found it. However, during
1.) The desire to find new trade routes to Asia was one of the motivations for European explorations. Europeans were seeking the wealth of Africa and Asia. They wanted profit, they wanted gold. The spice market was also a huge profit of trading and several countries tried to gain control of spice trade. Another motivation was God and religion. Europeans wanted to spread the teachings of the Gospel to other parts of the world. They believed it was their duty to spread the word of God. Lastly, land was another motivation for European explorations. Some rulers, especially the King of Spain, and the King of Portugal, wanted to claim as much land as they could. The more land and money a country owned, the better their chance of domination in Europe.
European imperialism during 1450-1750, began as a plan to gain more riches for the European nations. The Europeans did this for three main reasons, which were for God, Gold, and Glory. The Europeans domination over Latin America, Africa and Asia were made out to be good for the native people of these lands. However, the Europeans were not there to help these geographic areas. They were there to spread their influence and gain riches for themselves and the European nations. The successes and failures of the Europeans and non Europeans would decide their relationship status for as long as they could co-exist.
There are 3 main causes for exploration; to avoid the Ottomans, convert people to Christianity, and to trade goods. When the Ottoman started to increase their empire, they took control of some European trade routes. As it says in document 1, “The Ottoman armies seemed nearly invincible and the empire’s desire for expansion limitless…With trade routes to the east in the hands of the Ottomans, Europeans needed to find new trade routes.” To avoid the Ottoman armies they had to come up with or discover new trade routes so they can still be engaged in worldwide trade. For Christians to convert people to their religion, they first need to find people to convert, and they did this by traveling. Document 3 states, “Your Highnesses...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
People living the the 15th century had multiple reasons for venturing beyond its confinement of land. Scientific curiosity of the world played a major part in the advancement of naval travel, but it was not the main cause of exploration in these times. The Age of Exploration was sparked by Europeans wanting to find sea routes to East Asia, which they called the Indies. Merchants and crusaders were bringing goods to Europe from Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. These trade routes were controlled by the Muslims and the Italians. However, flaws
Europeans view on non-european peoples and cultures became more vast over the time period of one hundred and thirty years. These documents, presented chronologically, show us how europeans questioned their morals about non-europeans as new intellectual changes were happening.
It is evident that in 16th century Europe there existed both the motivation and the means to explore and colonize territory across the seas. As it can be said, “With the dawn of the 16th century, there came together in Europe both the motivation and the means to explore and colonize territory across the seas.” This statement is true to a large extent, especially in the areas of trade and technology. The physical means to explore and colonize came from the advances in technology that the Europeans had gone through, allowing them to sail far across the oceans and take over native populations easily. The motivation, on the other hand, came from trade-related reasons, such as the desire to trade new resources, to find gold, and to find new trade routes. Without the technology or trade at the dawn of the 16th century, there would not have been the means nor the motivation for Europeans to explore and colonize the New World.
Religion was not a major reason for European exploration because many of the European traders and travelers wanted to get rich by finding gold or some other valuable object, people wanted to travel to another place because of their country’s poverty, disease, or and economic backwardness, and also that the Europeans started traveling more ever since their technology and navigation was more developed.
European nations in the 15th century began exploring new lands with three motives: religion, wealth, and glory. It was made possible by advances in naval fleet building and navigation, first pioneered by the Portuguese. Europeans began to be involved in extensive exploration, coming in contact with Africa, Americas and their prime target Asia. The main targets of the pioneering Portugese and Spanish was to find and alternate trade route for the Indies trade and also promote Christianity to the new lands. As the century unfolded, the search for newer territories to colonize and shortern routes to the exotic land of spices and silk became the initial driving force for the intensive early exploration by the Europeans .
Furthermore the Europeans saw the Ottoman Empire as a threat and feared a new Muslim surge toward Europe. Additionally, the loss of the last European outposts in the Holy Land also eliminated the only European trading posts in the Eastern Mediterranean. All European trade with Asia had to then pass through Muslim merchants, who made it very expensive, only adding to European’s enmity to the new owners of what was renamed Istanbul. All of this impelled Europeans to go exploring new ways to get to China and India to resume the sought after trade for luxury
Over the period of 1792 to 1990, England and China's relationship drastically changed because of the trading of opium. China didn’t want to trade opium, but it would mess up England's economy if they were no longer trading opium. China also started to feel the need to westernize, unlike before. China’s need for westernization released tension between the two powers, causing a change in their relationship. China and England's relationship was continous from trade. Even though it was unbalanced in the beginning, it was never cut off. During this time period, in other parts of the world, industrialization was starting to take place. England was one of the leading countries in this age of Industrialization. England used their advanced technology
The Europeans began their expansion in the globe by taking up African and Asian colonies. During the 1870s, the world experienced imperialism as the Europeans established empires in Africa and Asia. Their aggressive expansion was as a result of industrialization. The move was made for economic, religious, political, humanitarian, and political reasons, amongst others (Hook and Spanier, p.19). Also, Africa was easy to access due to its geographical position. As a result, the Europeans could get into the continent through the ocean or the Gulf Canal. In addition, the Africans continent had vast lands that were beneficial for the Europeans. They started up companies and farming land that would produce their foods. Additionally, the Africans and
In 1750 and 1914 Europe dominated the world. Historians and scientists have had hundreds of debates what what made Europe so powerful. One scientist, the author of Guns, Germs, and Steel, in particular said that the main reasons why Europe dominated the world was because of the east-west axes, domestication, land, and government. Guns, Germs and Steel is partially erroneous because it wasn't only the axes, domestication, land, and government that enabled European global domination it was also the European colonization of Australia and Egypt. Australia benefited Europe by providing them with land for convicts, wool, and gold.
Trade was the first motive for European exploration. During the 15th and 16th centuries, the Italians and Muslims had control of the Mediterranean. Because of this, countries such as Portugal lacked access to Asian trade routes, since they lacked the resources to break through “the Italian dominated trade of the Mediterranean” (Arnold 4) Such countries were forced to explore and expand in order to find new routes around the world to reach Asia, causing them to search for goods and trade beyond their borders, acquiring land and resources along the way, which in turn expanded European trade and economy. Another factor was Europe's search for new trade. European merchants discovered that they could no longer sell their merchandise in Asia and Africa, as many of their products were deemed inferior to their African and Asian counterparts. They attempted to sell “crude woollen cloth in Asian markets accustomed to fine silks and calicoes” (Arnold 3) The Europeans needed a new market, motivating them to send explorers such as
European exploration wasn’t only entirely based of one motivation in the 15th and 16th century. Although many voyages of discovery were started in search of wealth, religion was also a big reason for exploring other continents. Religion wasn’t the main motivation for European exploration in the 15th and 16th century. Instead, the main motivation was economic motives, which was closely followed by religion, and to a lesser extent was technological developments.