The Age Of Exploration : John Winthrop

European exploration, in its entirety, is a complex subject with many causes and effects. In the attempt to break away from their previous home, colonists experienced a novel mixing of a variety of life, people plants and animals included. Africans, Europeans, and Indians all became acquainted in a new medley of a society. Each group, all with a unique cultural background, found a common identity as Americans due to the many new encounters and new neighbors. This was the beginning of the melting pot America is today. With “profit-seeking and soul-seeking” as the motive, Europeans concentrated the many cultures in young America.

Beginning with the southern Chesapeake colonies, the regions of North America were classified by their founding nation and structure. Several sects from all over Europe made North America their home throughout the 17th century. After facing prosecution in England, the Puritans and Separatists traveled to the New World’s northeast aiming to establish religiously tolerant settlements, whereas the Spanish Conquistadors explored the “West Indies” with hopes to exploit the Southwest’s piñata of expensive metals and non-Christian natives. Both groups shared the goal of a new world; however, New Englanders and the Spanish Conquistadores’ differed fundamentally in their initial motivation to explore the foreign paradise. Each group’s initial motivation

The colonization of the Americas began in the year of 1492, when Christopher Columbus and his band of explorers arrived off the coast of the Bahamas. This new “discovery” for Europe would have drastic effects not only on the settlers themselves, but on the natives and their environment. It is without a doubt that the appearance of these explorers placed the Indians on a dangerous trajectory. Now, it is currently understood how the colonization of the American continent brought disease, war and ultimately death for many of the natives. Early exploration, conquest and settlement brought about new economies for the Europeans, new religious freedoms, and knowledge of the world and of exploration, producing great benefits for the colonists. Although the settlers did face risks and sometimes death during their conquest, they undoubtedly benefitted from this expansion. The Indians, however, were dealt a different hand. The culture that they had developed and the immense civilizations that had evolved were ultimately destroyed as the spread of epidemics, constant war, and brutal exploitation brought these prosperous and hospitable peoples to their knees.

Although “historians no longer use the word “discovery” to describe the European exploration, conquest and colonization of a hemisphere already home to millions of people”, it was one of the greatest and most important discoveries ever in our history that changed the lives of millions of people. (Eric Foner, Give Me Liberty: An American History (New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2008), pg 1.) For some the “discovery”of America would mean an opportunity for a better life, for others the “discovery” brought misery and death.

Introduction. The new boundaries and opportunities in the seventeenth century grew and challenged an idea of religious liberty. The lifestyle of the first colonists in the New England was heavily influenced by religion and church. Settlers considered that success of social life depends on the obedience to God’s will. The governor John Winthrop maintained and developed this idea. With a help of his Speech to the Massachusetts General Court in 1645, he summed up and explained an important idea of liberty. Winthrop did not only define a blessed way for a better life of the community but also clarified the role of citizens through the analogy of women’s position in the society. His concept of natural and moral liberty turned up to be suitable and clear for the settlers. With a help of well-built speech, Winthrop emphasized and explained correlation among society, authority, and God in the New World.

One extreme change for the Indians was the arrival of Anglo-Europeans. Native peoples’ lives were changed at the blink of an eye while new ideas, practices and beliefs were shown to them. The arrival of the Europeans changed the way the Indians viewed their world and manipulated their resources. This new change could be viewed as positive as well as negative, for while some tribes entered into trade relations with the Anglos, others were used as slave labor and all were subject to disease brought on by the European newcomers. However, despite all the advantages and disadvantages, no other introduction changed the lives of the Indians more than firearms and horses. West outlines one of the most important evolutions for Native life and how it represented a new way to harness resources and gain power. In just a few chapters, we are able to see the great advancements the Indians made in hunting and trade due to these new technologies and how they allowed the Cheyennes to rise to a new purpose as the Called Out People.

Throughout early history, beginning with 1492, exploration was well on its way. European nations began heading west towards the New World in search of new trade routes to the East Indies. With support from kings through financial aid and moral guidance, a new peak was reached upon the arrival of Columbus in the Caribbean islands off the mainland of the Americas. Such an extraordinary event, future voyages were sent off to explore the rest of the New World by Spanish, French, and English ships and explorers. During these times of exploration, traveling nations encountered the Natives among the lands where they would then determine their future through alliances and conflicts. The settlement patterns, along with the attitudes of the American Indians that were encountered with by the Spanish, French and English exploration, can be compared and contrasted through the goals of these nations culturally and socially, and even through the opportunity for economic growth .

*The Age of Exploration was the flourish of trade. Colonizing the New World would see the extinction of god, glory, and gold. The new World would be affected by European diseases which killed most of the native population in the Americas and created a need for workers.

The introduction of weapons, alcohol, and other European things and ideas also great and unpredictable effects. The Europeans encountered many sophisticated Indian cultures and some owe their survival to the Natives. The Europeans introduced the idea of “ownership of the land” to the Indians. Of course, tribes fought over territory to hunt, fish and occasionally practice agricultural on, but the idea of “ownership” of land was something they didn't comprehend. For some Indians the land was considered sacred, the idea of agriculture was thought of as insulting to the Earth, and many aspects of nature. For the Indians, things in nature like rivers, ponds, and even rocks, were like the saints in Christian cultures. Even after they had made deals with the Europeans for the purchase of land, they didn't understand what they had done and that led to further conflict. Europeans also changed their barter system. They had built complex economic relationships with other tribes and understood commerce as it existed in their barter and exchange system. Europeans had a destructive impact of this trading culture, trading different things than the Indians were used to and also through the use of currency.

The Age of Exploration took place from 1400 to 1700 C.E. Some people think that European explorers should be glorified but others disagree. Some positive effects are that he Europeans learned many Spanish trades, got many foods from the Columbian Exchange that we use today, and Portuguese explorer Magellan connected Europe with Asia by sailing west. One last reason that shows European explorers should be glorified today is that the Europeans made the ideas of human rights that America uses today.

John Winthrop and John Adams and their respective works were heavily influenced by their times. Winthrop was a devout Puritan Christian that was escaping a persecuting king in the early to mid-seventeenth century. As a learned and religious man, he came to be the leader of this puritan sect that was to establish a society unlike any other, free from religious corruption that his fellow people saw in the Church of England, that would be a model community much like the “Citty upon a Hill” described in the bible. On the other hand, John Adams experienced the “tyranny” of the British monarchy in a contrasting way. This era was marked with worsened conditions for American colonists in terms of economic and social taxations. Their literary

Whenever you hear about the European Exploration, or ‘The Age of Discovery’’ you hear a lot about what the Europeans gained from it, while they did learn a lot from this and gather a lot of new resources they were not the only ones affected. The Age of Discovery affected more areas that just Europe, it also affected the Americas and Africa. To prove this we must first know what European Exploration is.

The Age of Exploration was a time period that has had significant influences in the modern world. It was the moment in which Europe was brought out of the Dark Ages and into an era of discovery. The risks taken within the 15th and 18th century allowed both positive and negative outcomes to be introduced to the European Exploration. There were many motives for this era, and many outcomes came about. However, they were both negative and positive. To summarize the motives of this age, a simple combination can be stated. The main purposes of the Age of Exploration was God, Gold, and Glory.

Exploration has had a huge impact on the world. It brought animals, plants, and foods to other civilizations. However, exploration does have some downfalls. The obvious reason would be that it’s too expensive. The second would be that it’s dangerous. Finally, the last reason is that we may not find what we’re looking for.

     The first effect of the Age of Exploration, was the finding of the New World. The New World provided opportunities for European countries to conquer new lands and to obtain wealth while conquering. After Columbus “found'; the New World, there were European explorers embarking on new journeys there constantly. They would set up new colonies and conquer new lands. From these colonies, they set up trading posts back to their mother countries. Gold, fur, corn, potatoes, tobacco, chocolate, and many other products were brought back to Europe. The wealth from these products could only be imagined. The countries would then trade their imports to other countries and make a huge profit.