The Period Of European Global Exploration

In my opinion, the benefits of European exploration did not outweigh the consequences. To support my opinion, this essay will include three topics that each show both pros and cons. Those topics include the Columbian Exchange, Smallpox, and Columbus’s voyages.

The European Exploration was a time where Europeans explored new places, bringing new ideas to Europe. These explorations were a major factor in taking Europe from a “Dark Age” to a Renaissance. There are many causes that led to these great accomplishments, and the Renaissance.

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.

Throughout the 15th and 16th centuries, European exploration and expansion thrived. Portugal led the way in this movement of exploration with their development of efficiently built ships known as caravels, seafaring devices such as compasses and astrolabes, and cutting-edge naval academies. Various European countries, including Spain, England, France, etc., followed Portugal’s example by utilizing their progressive naval technology. These technological advancements led to the crossing of oceans and eventually the circumnavigation of the world. These Portuguese sailing techniques were implemented by explorers such as Christopher Columbus, John Cabot, Hernando Cortes, Francisco Pizarro, and Bernal Castillo allowing them to travel by sea to places such as Africa, East Asia, the Caribbean, and the Americas. These nations and explorers were persuaded to put in the time and effort to complete these complex expeditions by three essential motivations. Financial gain, political dignity, and religious expansion were fundamental motivators for the European Age of Exploration.

During the exploration of the New World Portugal, France, and Spain had one thing in common to search for new resources such as sugar, spices, and gold. The European arrival in the Americas set a new era off known as the Columbian Exchange which changed the America’s forever. Native Americans introduced the Europeans to several new crops such as corn, squash, pumpkins, and sweet potatoes. Portugal set off for a search for sea route to Asia, while in competition with Spain who was also seeking an active root to Asia as well. The French exploration occurred later after the “New World” was found, and their target was to find a Northwest Passage where they hoped for a route through North America to the pacific.

European explorers first landed on the shores of what would later become North America more than 500 years ago. Not long after the first explorers had entered the "New World" they found out that they were not alone on this new frontier. Their neighbors in this new land were the Native Americans who had been there for centuries, virtually unaware of life outside the continent. Thus began an inconsistent and often times unstable relationship between the European settlers and the North American Indians. Two nations who had particularly interesting relationships with the Native Americans were the British and the French, both of whom took different approaches to their relations with the Indians economically as well

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.

Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca and his companions, Andres Dorantes, Alonzo del Castillo Maldonado, and Estevan were the sole survivors of a four hundred men expedition. The group of them went about the friendly Indian tribes preforming miracles of healing, with the power of Christianity. At one time five sick persons were brought into the camp, and the Indians insisted that Castillo should cure them. At sunset he pronounced a blessing over the sick, and all the Christians united in a prayer to God, asking him to restore the sick to health, and on the following morning there was not a sick person among them. De Vaca and his companions reached the Pacific coast where the Indians, showed signs of civilization, living in houses covered with straw, wearing cotton clothes and dressed skins, with belts and ornaments of stone, and cultivating their fields, but had been driven therefrom by the brutal Spanish soldiery and had taken refuge in the mountains, de Vaca and his comrades, being regarded as emissaries from the Almighty, exercised such power over these untutored savages that, at their bidding, the Indians returned to their deserted habitations, and began again to cultivate their fields, the assurance being given them by de Vaca and his companions that henceforth they would

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 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.

During the 15th through 16th centuries, The Portuguese and Spanish explorers were very attracted to valuable resources, new land, and trade routes. These motives encouraged them to seek out new explorations and search for items that would benefit their home countries. Common resources that both the Spanish and Portuguese sought out included silks, porcelain, spices, persian horses, silver, and gold (Chasteen, 2001). Although the Portuguese and Spanish explored and sought out new land for many of the same reasons, they also had some different causes for exploration which were often very specific to the needs and goals of Portugal and Spain.

Throughout all time, women have been denied basic rights men enjoy such as the ability to vote, hold office, travel and own or inherit property. During the Age of Exploration in Europe, King James VI introduced fear of witchcraft to society after experiencing extreme weather during his return trip from Denmark with his soon-to-be wife. At this time, monarchs were believed to be preordained by God. Christianity was the dominant religion in Europe, and witchcraft was blamed on Satan. Since King James had trouble returning home, many believed it was the cause of the devil. During the Age of Exploration in Europe, many women were left without a man to control them when their husband or fathers left to explore, and society’s solution was to put

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

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.

In the next stanza, he starts to compare his life to other’s. He mentions how he heard that one man “walked out on the whole crowd”, and this leaves him feeling uncomfortable. It is not normal for someone to go against the majority, and Larkin acknowledges that. However, the author later says “Surely I can, if he did?”. Now we know that the anxious feeling Larkin had was actually restlessness, and maybe jealousy too. He wants to defy the norm, and do things his own way, yet something is holding him back. He knows that he could do it if he tried, but he fails to take action. Perhaps, just the reassuring thought of “I am capable of doing my own thing” is enough for him; just like how we