The Concept of "Advanced Civilization" Led to the European Conquests on the 16th and 17th Centuries

During the age of exploration and colonization, Portuguese mariners first found success in establishing trade along the African coast. They set up trading posts on offshore island using a new ship design, planting a variety of crops and trading commodities with people along the coast. Additionally, Vasco da Gama travelled around the tip of Africa to trade with East Africa and India. While their most of their goods were seen as inferior, da Gama returned with fighting vessels and established trading posts in the Indian Ocean by using force.

In 1492, Christopher Columbus embarked on his journey to what he thought was India. Little did he know, he would first end up in The Caribbean, and later discover what is now known as the Americas. England, Spain, and France would soon try and conquer the New World and the Native American’s in it. Each of these countries interactions with the Native’s were different, but would affect their culture and way of living in some way. Columbus’ discovery of the Natives forced interaction between Europeans and the indigenous people of the Americas.

Following Columbus 's discovery of Central America in 1492, the gateway for further exploration of this new world opened to many countries in Europe including England, Spain, and France. While France conquered present day Canada and Spain dominated both Central and South America, English mostly settled in the east coast of present day United States. During the seventeenth century, a large influx of immigrants came to the New World from England for many different reasons. Due to differences in motive and geography, the New England and Chesapeake colonies developed unique societies, despite their similarity in origin. The motives of the English and geographical locations of their settlement impacted the economy and government of the colony,

During the period of 1492 to 1750, Europe experienced drastic changes during their Age of Discovery. As a result of contact and colonization, Western Europe’s economy, political, social, and military systems changed, but also maintained certain aspects that enabled them to build strong civilizations. Such changes include increased (international) trade routes, more centralized governments such as monarchies, decreased unifying influence of the Catholic Church, and increased interest in military conquest and expansion.

Columbus, the first Spanish explorer to reach America, initially thought that the he had landed in the East Indies, which had been his ultimate goal. “His sea wanderings would have been written off as an expensive failure, once it was realized that he had not found the illusive water route to India, had it not been for the discovery of gold on Hispaniola in 1493”(Nash, 18). Once it became known that there were gold and other precious metals on this continent, people from Spain began to journey to America in hopes of gaining immense wealth. The Spanish claimed Panama, Mexico, parts of South America, and southern areas of what is now North America and these expeditions were typically led by military figures. The Spanish viewed America as land to be conquered and they viewed Native Americans

After the discovery of the New World by Christopher Columbus in 1492, the powerful Old World scrambled to colonize it. The three major nations involved in this were Spain, France, and England. Spain took more to the south in the Central American and Mexico areas while France went north in the Canada region. The English came to America and settled in both the New England and Chesapeake area. Although the people in these regions originated from the same area, the regions as a whole evolved into different societies because of the settlers’ purpose for coming to America and the obstacles faced in both nature and with the natives.

The Europeans came to the Americas far more advanced than any of the inhabitants and their advantage was staggering. Of course their conquest was far

In 1453, Ottoman forces conquered Constantinople from the Byzantine Empire and renamed it as Istanbul. Shortly after gaining control of Istanbul, the Ottomans imposed strict trade policies with foreign nations. The Ottoman Empire essentially took control of all trade routes leading to Asia from Europe, including the Silk Road, and cut the Europeans off from accessing these trade routes. The Europeans no longer were able to use any direct trade routes to Asian markets. Essentially, the flow of Asian luxury goods into Europe was halted as a result of the policies established by the Ottoman Empire. The Ottomans, however, did allow the Europeans to obtain the highly sought after Asian luxury goods. They did so by forcing European merchants to pay unreasonably high prices and expensive taxes for the Asian goods. The Ottoman Empire acted as the middleman for trade products entering Europe. The Asian goods would have to first travel through the Indian Ocean Basin trade routes, then to the Indians, then to the Arabs, and finally, to the Ottomans before they could arrive in Europe. European nations, such as Portugal, did not want to pay these exorbitantly high prices and decided to cut out the middleman, the Ottomans. They sent out navigators such as Vasco da Gama, Christopher Columbus, and Bartolomeu Dias to look for direct trade routes to

Rationale: Anyone who has studied history of the Americas’ knows that it was founded by Christopher Columbus in 1492 however, he could not have explored the whole continent by himself. Who are the other Spanish explores and what are they famous for?

The rhetoric used to describe how Columbus and other European explorers “discovered” the Americas is vanishing. It is much more accurate to say that these European explorers helped make the first contacts between two different worlds. Before the Europeans ever set foot in the Americas, Native Americans or Indians were inhabiting the lands. However, the peace in the lives of Indians would eventually be disrupted by disease and war over land when the Europeans arrived. Each group of Europeans that came over to the New World had a slightly different motivation. Ultimately, the role of Europeans in the previously “undiscovered” regions of the Earth would be reenvisoned.

In 1492, Christopher Columbus, an Italian explorer, initiated the colonization of the New World by Europe when he sailed across the Atlantic Ocean to the Americas. Spain and England soon established colonies in the New World which grew to become very different from one another with frequent similarities. The Spanish colonies and New England greatly differed in terms of control by a European government, were both vastly similar and extremely different in terms of religion, and were largely similar in terms of treatment of indigenous people.

How did Europeans conquer so much of the globe, laying waste to the indigenous civilizations and helping themselves to the natural resources of the lands they settled? Was it because the Europeans were superior to the indigenous people? Or was something far larger behind the European success at colonization? These are questions that Dr. Jared Diamond, a professor at UCLA, sought to answer in his book “Guns, Germs and Steel”, a fascinating look at why Europeans succeeded in expanding across multiple continents, and why the native populations fared so badly in the face of European exploration.

Starting with Columbus in 1492, European countries (Spain, England, France, and Netherlands) began colonizing the New World in search of greater economic opportunity. As a result of the Columbian Exchange, a wide variety of animals, plants, and culture were traded between the New and Old Worlds, but causing widespread sickness among the Native American population.

On October 12, 1492, Columbus and his companies landed at Bahamas, after thirty-three days traveling from the “Canary Islands,” where he stopover to restock goods enough for his three other ships. He settled the island of Hispaniola, as he named “La Isabella.” He had also make two more voyages to the “New World” and Spain is known as the first European country to establish and colonized the largest lands. The Spanish took “the lead in exploration and conquest,” which inspired them to pursuit for treasures, national glory and aspiration spreading Catholicism. Moreover, the first adventurer to reach the primary American civilization was Hernan Cortes, “whose wealth and power rested on domination of numerous subordinate peoples nearby.”

Vasco da Gama's revolutionary sea expedition to India is one of the most crucial moments in the entire history of exploration. Till the middle of 15th century, Portugal was the foremost seafaring country in Europe. King Manuel I: the ruler of Portugal hired about four ships for the voyage around Africa to the legendary land of India. King Manuel I knew that India was a huge cradle of variety of spices, which were extremely rare to see in other places and moreover they were pretty expensive in Europe. The king had also noticed that the Muslim merchants transported the spices by caravans through Arabian deserts and sold them in the markets of the Mediterranean ports. King Manuel I expected a new sea route to India, as that would enable him to import spices directly. This achievement was very important for Portugal as they could trade and earn money a lot of money from it. India was filled with spices: Pepper was a very common and the most used spice, it was used to preserve food and to flavor spoiled meat. Pepper was originated from Cochin and Malabar Coast in India. Cloves and cinnamon were equally used. They were used for keeping the food hygienic and ventilated. They were also sprinkled across the floor to avoid foot odor from entering the room. Many spices were also used for the cure of various illnesses and deadly diseases. India was the foremost spice trader for most of the countries including Europe.