Age Of Exploration Dbq

Would doing wrong to obtain something good for you and others still act as a good deed? This became a controversial subject when it came to discussing the Age of Exploration. The Age of Exploration was a group of voyages that took place during the 1400’s-1600’s, in which Europeans explored the Atlantic, and Pacific oceans. Their main reasons for exploration were, religious freedom from the protestant reformation, goods, better trade routes, gold, and land. Goods such as spices prevented meat from spoiling *1. Unfortunately spices were only found in Asia, and it was difficult to obtain spices from Asia to Europe over land, so they became very expensive. Due to this several European rulers decided to find a new sea route, knowing that if their

country could find a way to get these spices to Europe, they would become very rich.

Many opinions differentiate as to wether or not explorers did more harm than good.

The various explorers conquered new lands, gained wealth, traded new foods and spices , and spread christianity. All of these became positive factors for those countries receiving the wealth, land, and spices. Yet what they did to conquer these lands forms the question of wether they did more harm than good. How would you feel if a stranger invaded your home, took all your valuable possessions, threw you and your family on some ship as cargo and abused them? This was reality for the natives as not only did these explorers put the natives who's land they took in crammed ships, they put them through countless amounts of unnecessary pain. Once conquering new lands, they instantly sold blacks into slavery. “Many blacks lost their lives after being shipped across the world on the Middle Passage”*2. The middle

passage was one direction in the triangular trade “ in which millions of people from Africa were shipped to the New World as part of the Atlantic slave trade.”*3 The living conditions they were put in were beyond terrible, containing heights of only 5 feet making it almost impossible to stand up. Cramming the slaves into tight spaces, they were forced to sleep on hard wooden shelves to save room*4. If one person had a disease it was highly likely that it would pass onto many of the others. “Vasco De Gama was trying to show his right as captain and keep his natives in line. By cutting their hands, ears, and noses off the crew, Vasco knew they couldn't hear any longer and try to escape. By knocking the teeth out also, it ensures they cant untie themselves to escape. Vasco did this all for fun”.*5 Yet with the countless vicious acts of pain, the Age of Explorations did have its positive contribution to the world.
The Age of Exploration is widely known for having brought spices, goods, animals, and ideas about ways of life to Europe. The fusion between the Europeans and the Americans allowed the Europeans visualize new ways of life, changing theirs mostly for the better. This is were science began to rival the power of religion, and the time when more people opened up to questioning the church. New technologies and ideas arose, advancing in cartography, navigation, and shipbuilding making it safer and easier to travel abroad. Gold was also a popular item that brought wealth and power to the country that found it, as well as the spread of christianity to the new places they explored *1. Once have been introduced to new animals, people, and ideas, the the Europeans began to question the bible since it had not mentioned any of these items before. The protestant reformation was a turning point in history that impacted Europe socially, politically, and economically, as well as impacting the church significantly. The Reformation's leaders were Martin Luther and John Calvin. They were both educated priests for the Catholic Church who protested against wrong doings by the Catholic Church, such as indulgences. The spreading of faith , the “non-believers” was a key reason, leading into the crusades and the reformations desire to spread christianity to take hold of an area. But with all the new ideas and new products being traded diseases brought by the Europeans that they were immune toboggan to wipe out the natives in large numbers.
When Columbus came back from the Americas he brought back diseases to Europe such as measles and influenza, as well as affected the natives with a disease the Europeans were immune to such as small pox.

“Small pox ended up killing 90% of all natives in the new world over years since the Europeans arrived.”*6 When praising the Age of Exploration for new culture, land, and crops, many seem to forget all about the Aztecs, the Maya, and the Inca. The Aztecs, Mayas, and Incas were the three most dominant and advanced civilizations that developed in the Americas prior to the arrival of the Europeans. The Aztec Empire was located in central Mexico, and ruled much of the region from the 1400s until 1519, when the Spanish conquistador, Hernan Cortes, arrived in Mexico, and by 1521 had conquered the Aztecs for Spain. “The Maya civilization began as early as 2000 BC and continued to have a strong presence in Mesoamerica for over 3000 years until the Spanish arrived in 1519 AD.”*7 The Mayans were the only American civilization to develop an advanced written language. The Inca Empire was centered in Peru, and ruled over much of the west coast of South America from the 1400s to the time of Francisco Pizarro’s arrival in 1532. “This wide ranging empire did not have the wheel, iron tools, or a writing system, but its complex government and system of roads created a society where everyone had a job, a home, and something to eat.” *7 The Inca were conquered by the conquistador Francisco

Pizarro in 1533 for Spain as well.
The Age of Exploration was a critical turning point in history dating from 1450 to 1648. This was the time when the Europeans sailed to the Americas, and made cultural, economical, and geographical changes from the voyages explorers have made. As well as conquering new lands for their home countries, they took homes from the natives who've lived on the land previous to their arrival. With the positives of the trade of animals, ideas, gold, and land, came the appalling trade of slaves and erring treatment to those who didn't deserve it, making you question the reality of wether this was an age of “exploration” or simply a sugar coated gruesome invasion.