Global Exploration and Global Empires 1500-1700 Essay

There were many causes of exploration in this time period. There was a large desire to find an easy pathway to Asia. This was important to Europeans because in Asia there were spices, silks, and wealth. Most of the European nations were also after new territory to make colonies and extend their empires. Spain’s main concern was mineral wealth. They went looking for “El Dorado” or the city of Gold. Spain, France, and England were interested in spreading Christianity as well. When the Spanish Crown approved Christopher Columbus and his men to sail across the Atlantic Ocean, their main goal was to find a more accessible and faster way to get to India. The previous route took you all the way around Africa and took a hefty amount of time. It would benefit Spain more if a faster way was discovered. The Spanish were hoping to find and quicker way and when they did, they had planned to regulate the path and force those who use it to pay Spain. In the eyes of the Spanish this was ideal and very much wanted by the Spanish crown. When Christopher Columbus landed in the Bahamas, he believed he had reached India and called the inhabitants of the island Indians. This was not the case, Columbus had actually reached land where no European nations had current colonies and was unknown to them. This caused other European powers to assemble groups to travel to

The beginning of the interaction of the Americas and Europe all started with the expansion of Europe. Europe had been an agricultural society that thrived and was continually expanding. However, the Black Death wiped out a third of the western European population. Technological breakthroughs proved that the European economy had a large capacity for recovery in the late middle ages. Following the middle ages came the Renaissance. The Renaissance outlooks and ideas where what helped spark the spirit that motivated the exploration of the Americas. The Portuguese where the first to start exploring. They founded many bases along the western African “Gold Coast.” These bases where all placed in key spots for the Asian spice trade. At this

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

The very reason that Columbus himself sort forth on his voyage was to spread Catholicism. The French saw that they had the potential the trade with them, the English simply wanted the land they occupied, the Spanish saw the Indians as a form of labor, they also believed they could bring the Indians closer to the Spanish god. The Spaniards had a very difficult time converting the natives as their religion was very different from the one that the natives had been practicing. They believed that these “savages” were worshipping devils and they had to be saved. Cortes, forced Christianity upon the Indians and as he “cleansed” the temples of the idols, breaking them in public. Anyone who opposed the conversion was thought to be guided by Satan himself. The ecomienda system as well as the policy of repartimiento were instituted by the Spanish. The Spanish King Ferdinand also passed the Law of Burgos which were lays that said how the Indians were to be treated. He basically said that the Natives either had to choose to convert to Catholicism under their own free will or force will be used against

Portuguese explorers fled to Western India looking for new goods. Later on, Christopher Columbus was ordered to convert people to the Christian religion on and expedtion. On this expedition, he explored new things. He brought back new ideas and rulers throughout Europe began to fund voyages. The goals of the Spanish Monarchs had changed becasue of his voyage. Not only did he convert people to the churches religion, but he gained and found new land and discovered many things. The Columbian

First of all, one of the approaches Cabeza De Vaca took in order to persist was befriending some of, if not most of, the Indians that he encountered throughout his journey. One example of him performing this task is when an Indian tribe brought a wounded man to Cabeza in order for him to cure the badly injured Indian. Cabeza opened the Indian’s chest and took out the arrow that was resting above his heart. By doing this, Cabeza De Vaca and his fellow

The most important motive for early European exploration across the Atlantic was the dream of enormous riches. Initially, explorers and merchants hoped to find a sea route across the Atlantic to the thriving markets of Asia. However, Columbus greatly miscalculated the circumference of the earth; thus resulting in the discovery of a completely new world to explore and exploit. Upon arriving in the Americas, the Spanish and Portuguese sought precious metals or land that could be worked for profit, usually by slave labor. For example, the Spanish experience in the Caribbean under the leadership of Columbus was characterized by a search for both natural and human resources, such as gold and slaves (Winn, 2/8). This conquistador mentality that

1. Order of importance: silver-rich Mexico and Peru -> Islands of Caribbean->northern borders of New Spain(California, Texas area)

During the age of exploration, European empires would primarily compete with the new technologies arising along with the newfound techniques that enabled exploration and ventures to colonies. European empires, especially the Portuguese, would need to look for improvements in naval technology, navigation, and artillery. When Columbus returned from the newfound lands with small samples of gold, those who had the advantage of overseas travel had high hopes that they, too, would discover areas of gold and could quickly capitalize on these sources of wealth offered by the New World. The most significant competition would be, who can reach these new lands first? Empires with the best naval technology, navigation, and artillery

In the late 1400s, the Spanish had a desire to seek gold and glory through exploration and conquest. In 1492, Christopher Columbus was sent on a voyage, funded by the Spanish monarchs, to find a sea route to Asia. However, instead

Exploration Vs. Imperialism In today’s day and age, people are more connected than ever, and the earth seems to have been put under a microscope. One is able to travel around the entire planet in less than three days and information can be sent to the opposite side of the globe in less than a second. We have the technology to study our entire planet and to become more globally minded than ever.

Spain’s maritime during the 15th century is one of the most well known of this time, with having the journeyman Christopher Columbus be one of the first to reach the Americas. However the Queen of Spain at the time initially did not want to pay for his exhibition, “In early 1492, the Spanish court informed Columbus that his mere presence in the kingdom was no longer welcome.” (Bernstein, pg.165) Which if it wasn’t for one of his supporters convincing the queen, “[…] that funding the voyage west was a low-cost proposition and that it carried the possibility of enormous gain.” (Bernstein, pg.165) Though some may demean Columbus’s travels and findings and say that what he did was not the truth, but, however his presence is strong in the history

Throughout the 15th and 16th centuries, European exploration increased and many new lands and cultures were discovered. European explorers were mainly motivated by the three “g’s”, gold, god, and glory. Funded by rulers wanting more land and money for their country, explorers found North and South America, Africa, India and China. With these new discoveries emerged new cultures, crops, beliefs, and lands. The explorers soon found out that they could receive god, spread their religion, and become known around the globe.

This chapter discusses the interaction between the Europe, Africa and Asia regarding their exploration and long distance trade. Portuguese mariners were sailing around the continent of Africa and through the Indian Ocean in hoping to exchange gold for pepper and spices in India. Russian voyages built empire stretched across Eurasia. Their goal was to explore the Ocean basin. Also, the chapter considers the motive and ways of the European trade and exploration such as: spice trade, spreading Christianity, use of technology such as astrolabe and cross-staff; magnetic compass to navigate. Also, the Columbian exchange was including in food crops, animals and

It is exceptionally difficult to grasp the Age of Exploration as an era that occurred worldwide, not just along the shores of the Americas. As Giancarlo Casale explains in The Ottoman Age of Exploration there is a gap within the explanation of the Age of Exploration. He provides a narrative for the globally complicated Age of Exploration, drawing insight to the often overlooked accomplishments of the Ottoman Empire. Casale provides a new way of thinking about the Atlantic World through his identification of four commonalities shared by both the Ottoman and Western worlds during the Age of Exploration. “These are the four characteristics of sixteenth century European expansion that constitute the basic definition of the term Age of Exploration in this book: a