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European exploration
The age of exploration 1400-1800
European exploration
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The European Age of Exploration
We all think about how Christopher Columbus or Native Americans discovered the Americas long back ago. People have different opinions but what people don’t really think about is, “What lead them or caused them to discover this land?” Well that’s simple…The three G’s. Gold, god, and glory! They would explore and link Europe to other places to get a better trade system and become wealthier. Also, we all know that with great discoveries, come great glory.
The first “G”, gold, was an essential part of why people like Christopher Columbus went exploring. Kings and queens would obviously want their country to have fame, glory, and become rich. An example is how Christopher Columbus searched for it to bring it back to Spain and he did it by trading with native people, which was a great profit. What document 9 was saying is that many countries like and agree with trading because it would help and support them. But also, even though the new trade network was a success, some diseases like the devastating plague spread and killed tons of people, but that did however lessen the competition and therefore resulted in the few people that survived become wealthier and earn more money.
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The next cause of exploration is god.
And according to document 6, Europe at that time was Christian and wanted to spread that religion to all over the world and in return, god would give them a reward. They wanted to reach a goal of turning most people they trade with to become Christians. As page 1 said, Europe was mostly cut off and isolated from the Silk Road and only depended on agriculture. This led them into the dark ages and their Catholic churches was the only one cultural place with comfort and had common religious laws and gave people hope in salvation. It obviously meant a great deal to them so they probably hoped that this great culture could become
greater. Have you ever heard of Christopher Columbus day? That was one of the great glories of discovering a new land. He was not a rich man and hoped to be one day and when he found the Americas, he got eternal glory by having an annual holiday celebrated for him and his discovery. I think the printing press was also started around that time so the news would probably be spread quicker and there would be a wider region if fame. People would want to be noticed as a rich explorer, not a poor sailor which is why glory was so important to them. If it weren’t for the “three g’s”, there wouldn’t have been such a big motive to explore and trade. One of the world’s most famous explorer, Christopher Columbus, became wealthy by trading for gold, had glory by having a holiday for what he did, and that was considered as his gift from god for spreading the Christian culture. Gold, god, and glory were what caused the Age of Exploration and had a great impact on Europe.
The article “Navigating the Age of Exploration” by Ted Widmer explains how people view American history with only the assumptions pertaining to the present boundaries of the United States instead of seeing the world as explorers did during the Age of Exploration and expanding our boundaries to understand America’s history more fully. Widmer points out that many teachers of American history don’t teach a full continental perspective extending beyond American borders, which doesn’t give credit to the various cultures that contributed to the foundation of the United States. Today, people know little about the contributions of explorers during the Age of Exploration, and their impacts on America. During the Age of Exploration, the Europeans created
The Europeans came to the Americas with an imperialistic attitude. They wanted to take over the land and they thought their goods and beliefs were better than those of the Natives. Document 7 shows that the Mother Country sent over many goods of their own for trade from the colonies. The goods from the Mother Country overpowered and took the place of the Native’s goods.
Although the expanding Europeans’ forces were much smaller than that of the landed Chinese societies, technological advancements helped to negate the disadvantage pushed by the sheer population of the Chinese; however, both cultures were very adept and advanced in terms of naval warfare and exploration, making the seas and oceans a battleground for both cultures. At the time, Europeans were finding themselves short of land and room for expansion due to numerous empires in a relatively small area. This led to the search for land. The political powers sought wealth and hoped to achieve this by conquering Asians markets as had been done in the west. Much like the political powers, the Christian church greedily sought mass expansion and conversion, pushing for missions in the foreign lands.
The Church was, undoubtedly, the most powerful body in Europe at the beginning of the Middle Ages. In most Western kingdoms the Pope had more power than the king himself, and the Christian religion controlled all aspects of daily life. People were to devote themselves utterly to the Church in prayer and giving, and they would be saved. As seen in Document 6, the lords and nobles committed themselves to the service of God before men, saying, “Nor will I ever with will or action, through word or deed, do anything which is unpleasing to him [God]…” Those who lived during this time trusted the Church’s explanations for the workings of the world. They saw God as all powerful, as the force behind everything. Art and music thus were focused around the Church and giving praise and thanks to God. Most art works of the time featured Jesus or other saints.
The Age of Exploration brought many unforeseen changes to the people of Africa. On a path seeking gold, glory, and God, many explorers reached new parts of Africa. Explorers were seeking a more direct route to Asia and believed they must travel through Africa to reach these Asian lands. Namely, Portugal was interested in this under the direction of Prince Henry. There, he believed they could capture the riches of Muslim trade and convert the natives to Christianity. King Henry died before the route to Asia could be accomplished but he laid the groundwork for later exploration and encounters with Africa. During the fifteenth and eighteenth centuries, Europeans desire to find Asia greatly impacted the lives of native Africans through the slave
Without intention, in 1492 Christopher Columbus initiated an event that is perhaps the most important historical turning point in modern times to the American Continents. . “For thousands of years before 1492, human societies in America had developed in isolation from the rest of the world. ”(P. 4) Christopher Columbus and other European voyagers ended all this beginning in 1492 as they searched for treasure and attempted to spread Christianity. For the first time, people from Europe, Africa, and the Americas were in regular contact. Columbus was searching for one thing and discovered something entirely different.
It has been said that Europeans went over to the New World in search of God, Glory and Gold. For the most part, the two latter motives were what drew men to the wildernesses of unknown continents; but still, mixed within these desperate attempts to forage a better life or to discover extravagant riches, history has shown that some men aspired to nobler ends.
In the 15th century there were three dominant nations in the world, China, Islam, and Europe. All three were strong powerful countries that battled for the greatest and the best. But one question that seams to puzzle people is: why did the Europeans discover America before Islam and China? What was it about them that lead them to discover the Americas before any one else? There are many reasons that caused them to be there, but with the discovery of the Americas came some consequences.
The first voyage to the New World was met with success and the beginnings of Spanish colonization. Landing on Hispaniola and meeting a local tribe that greeted him with friendship, Columbus sought wealth,
Be not dismayed at all For scandall cannot doe us wrong, God will not let us fall. Let England knowe our willingnesse, For that our work is good; Wee hope to plant a nation Where none before hath stood. (Morison, pg. 89) Originally, when Christopher Columbus landed on the shores of America en route to Asia, he was not interested in discovering new lands. Most Europeans at the time were looking for a way to get at the oldest part of the Old World, the East Indies.
In the year of 1492, the Queen and King of Spain developed thoughts of strengthening their power and seeking new sources of wealth. This being stated the Queen and King had agreed on financing Christopher Columbus’s expedition, hoping it would bring the kingdom wealth (Ellis 2004). On October 12 Columbus had discovered a new location, due to this discovery; Latin America had been colonized by the Spanish conquistadors sent by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella. Overall, Latin America had been colonized for the sake of seeking wealth (Ellis 2004). Obtaining gold was the simple way of gaining wealth. Gold was the resource that attracted Spaniards to the Island of Hispaniola, because it was also King Ferdinand's interest (De la Riva 2003 ). Thus it ended up becoming the ultimate goal of the Christian Spaniards sent to Hispaniola to acquire gold and swell themselves in riches. (Las Casas 1552).Trading was also the key to getting wealthy; the more resources available for trade the more wealth will be gained. Resources in the New World attracted the Spanish conquistadors to Latin America; it was also what he...
Christopher Columbus is honored as the man who opened the doors to an Age of Discovery and exploration. Although he may not have been the first European to set foot onto the Americas, he did begin a wave of exploration in a new hemisphere. The time period of the age of discovery follows the end of the Middle Ages, which Columbus himself is a product. If it were not Columbus that brought European settlement to the New World, then it would have been some other explorer who probably started out with the same goals and ideas.
An explorer name Christopher Columbus from Spain wanted to find a water route from Western Europe and Asia. He was not successful, but instead he did find something that changed everything. Columbus discovered the Americas by sailing with the Spanish Monarchs. Conquistadors are leaders in the Spanish conquest of America. They went to explore America to conquer the Native Americans, to spread Christianity, and find gold and treasure. The Conquistadors were a negative part of the Columbian Exchange, they stole riches from the New World’s land, and killed many of the Native people.
The discovery of the new world brought the Europeans resources, money, and people. Discovery of the new was such an impact on the European exploration because of land. Countries would now have more land in their name with lots of resources. Discovery the new world made the European come up with the ideal of slavery. This was a negative for the people who lived on the land because they were either killed, brought into slavery, or kicked off the island (3). Crops and resources was another reason why the discovery of the new world was important. Exploring the world gave the Europeans resources that were very convenience. Gold was the greatest convenience resources found during the European exploration (3). When the Europeans were traveling across they weren’t just looking for land and money. They also learned from the Indians and others about their culture (3). Learning about another culture made the explorers bring back some of their culture and share it with the old world. The explorers found lots of resources and crops that they didn’t have, they also found out that the Indians didn’t have things they had, and this is what lead to the Columbian
Before the 16th century Protestant Reformation, Christianity it Europe was in a questionable and somewhat corrupt state. During the mid 15th century central and western Europe was set up in the form of a hierarchy, which was headed by the pope. At this period in time the pope claimed all spiritual authority over Christians, as well as political authority over all inhabitants of the Papal States. In addition to the claims the pope made, the church also owned close to one-fourth of the land in Europe that lead to a strong centralization of papal authority. Close to all of the Europeans at this time were Christian and would pay taxes directly to the church as a result of this ownership. European Christians were taught in their upbringing that without the guidance and rituals of the priests and the church, there would be no path for them to salvation. Despite the church attempting to teach morality among members, the clergy started to become greedy and full of corruption that fueled their desire for ...