European Exploration

The 1500’s has been given a name known as the Age of Exploration. During the Age of Exploration, this time period was laser-focused on finding new discoveries. The discoveries they were finding were things that had great potential to change lifestyles of many. While this was occurring, many of these discoveries were founded while European ships took sail across the seas. This time period can be boldly labeled just for the new discoveries, but without the politics, socioeconomics, and cultural changes, these discoveries would not be relevant for the 1500’s.

During the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries there was a formation of centralized nations in Europe, including England, France, Portugal, and Spain. During this time, there was a decline of feudalism which lead to the growth of trade and the merchant class, new technology, and a monetary economy that lead to the ability to finance exploration. Europeans were able to embark on their journey due to advancements in knowledge and technology. They improved their knowledge of mapping and navigation, and made advancements in their weapons and ships. Over-population was a predominant

The effects of European exploration were mostly positive. The exploration led to cultural diffusion, the Colombian exchange, and the modernization of goods as well as cities. The end of isolation from Europe and Asia brought a new beginning to the Americas. As the Natives perished under the wrath of the Europeans, the European empire grew rich from enslavement. Although this caused great disdain until the 1960s (and even still a little today), the effects of European exploration changed the world for the better because it lead to the key elements that still affect society today- cultural diffusion, the exchange of goods (globally), and the modernization in technology.

Should the European explorers, conquistadors, and settlers from the Age of Exploration still be glorified and celebrated in modern times? While many, including yourself, would probably answer with yes, I would have to answer with no because although there were many benefits of cultural diffusion, it came at a very high cost. The benefits of the exploration was very one-sided, the explorers were greedy and cruel, and it also caused much destruction to native culture and populations.

The discovery of America opened up the door for many people to find a new home and also a new identity. The European explorers of the late 15th and 16th centuries did not discover America; the native people had already lived and flourished there for many years. The European exploration of America is notable because it is the start of the mentality among Americans the fuels the need to travel from home in order to find oneself. Since the beginning, the settlers in America have been people who left home to find a new life where they could live successful lives. While this is a theme in all types of literature, it is one that is especially prevalent in American literature because the settlers were an entire people who left their home in search of something better. Some of those people left to find themselves in their religion or to find new ways to make money, but all in all the discovery of America was also the discovery of a new people. The sensation of discovery fueled the early explorers, the settlers, the revolutionaries, the transcendentalists, and American people to this day. The beginning of this trend in American literature was when the first Europeans found the Americas.

The fifteenth to seventeenth century is known as the “Age of Exploration”. Europe began to colonize the countries they had “discovered”. A major part of the world that they colonized was Latin America. Spain was the first to colonize, and the United States started to take interest in Latin America towards the 19th century. Europe and The United States both took interest in Latin America, but for different reasons.

There were a couple major reasons why different European countries decided to explore westward towards the Americas. The first reason was because after the crusades had failed and Constantinople was taken by the Ottomans in 1453, the overland routes along the Silk Road to the far-east became much more treacherous and expensive for the Western European kingdoms. To overcome this obstacle, the Europeans looked for alternate routes to the orient.

The age of Exploration in the 1400’s jumpstarted world travel and later sparked interest and an urge to explore not only the world but also the way people saw and thought about the world. In the mid-1500’s scholars began challenging the ideas of the ancient thinkers and the church by practicing and publishing new ways of thinking. These scholars published writings that replaced old assumptions with new theories, this changed the way of thinking in most of Europe. The change in thinking and wide spread new thoughts and ideas was termed the Scientific Revolution. One invention that helped to spread these ideas is the printing press, this allowed scholars and scientists to print, publish, and distribute their ideas.

Europeans in the 15th through 17th centuries were conquerors as they conquered the world. They engaged in intensive exploration and early colonization of many parts of the world, and they established direct contact with Africa, the Americas, and Asia. The Age of Discovery, also known as the Age of Exploration was during this period of time. The Age of Exploration was when the Europeans traveled around the world in search of different things. This is when Europeans conquered different parts of the world. Europeans were conquerors because conquerors are defined as a person who conquers (takes over) a place or people, and that is what Europeans in the 15th through 17th century did. Even though Europeans did explore unfamiliar areas and traded

I believe that the most useful item that was used during the age of European Exploration was the caravel. This item was a triangular shaped sail used on a boat. It allowed the sailors to dial against the wind. This not only made longer expeditions possible, but made other items more useful. One of these items, the map, could only be useful if you had a ship to actually sail on. Another is the compass. Without a ship the compass wouldn't be irrelevant because there would be no need way to use it. In conclusion, the best item created during the age of European exploration was the caravel.

Exploration of the New World (Americas) became very popular around the 1500’s and beyond. The Spanish were the first of the Old World to find the New World and colonize, and they did so on an Island known as Hispaniola. Of course, this inspired other countries in Europe to do the same, leading up to the English explorers who colonized in Jamestown. Surprisingly, even though these two colonies were settled a little over 100 years apart from each other, they have many similarities and differences.

On the other side he discovered a vast body of water that he named "South

In this essay you will be reading about the legacy of three explorers during renaissance. Firstly you will be reading about Marco Polo secondly about Christopher Columbus and lastly Ferdinand Magellan. These explorers have all changed the world by adding to the world map and proving things that no one else has discovered or seen before

The main motivation of European exploration was economic motives. People were beginning to become more interested in traveling by sea to reach Asia and Africa and all their riches(Duiker,494). The spice trade was what linked Europe to Asia, and the gold trade linked Europe to Africa. Furthermore, in the 15th and 16th centuries, as the economy and purchasing power of Europe developed and increased, the spice demand grew at a steady rate(Arnold,12). Therefore, spices were one of the few things that made overseas trade possible. Europe did not have very much gold to begin with, so ultimately the gold mines that they did possess were emptied. After 1400, Europe started trading with the areas that produced gold, increasing their amount of gold. Gold was very important to Europe, because not only was it used for decorations, but also their currency. In 1500, Portugal was controlling the flow of gold to Europe, making Portugal much wealthier(Buckler,500). Eventually, slaves were included in the gold

During the Age of Discovery, the period of European global exploration which began in the 15th century, England began to establish colonies and networks of trade in Asia and the Americas, and, after a series of wars in the 17th and 18th centuries, England became the dominant power in both India and North America. Additionally, England had colonies in the Pacific, Africa, and Asia, and in 1815 when Britain defeated Napoleonic France, the country had uncontested worldwide dominance and ruled a global colonial empire. Yet, Britain 's rollercoaster of worldly dominance was not quite over; when World War One and Two erupted, Britain began to experience financial tension, which eventually culminated in the government 's decision to release the majority of its colonies. Britain 's days of glory as a dominant colonial power, an empire the sun never set on, were over, something the citizens had to begrudgingly accept. This sense of resignation and frustration is documented in Phillip Larkin 's Homage to a Government. In Homage to a Government Larkin utilizes varying literary techniques to establish his belief that self-interest should not be the sole factor for foreign and domestic policies and to convey his dissatisfaction with the current state.