In the year 1492, a 40-year-old master cartographer and sailor named Christopher Columbus set sail for royal family in Spain, hoping to find riches and travel to Asia. During his journey, he was unaware of what was to come and be passed down for many centuries. His efforts of exploration, investigation, and observation would lead a path for new explorers in the years to come. However, these new explorers would greatly draw a bolder line between exploration and exploitation. In Europe, 1492 served as a marker for the events that were to take place, following that date. As triangle trade was becoming more established and an excellent way to make a profit, it was clear that new routes needed to become public for maximum efficiency. Royal families …show more content…
It was normal and expected that these field owners would want to find a better alternative against doing the manual labor themselves. So they too were also interested in exploration and the search for new lands with opportunities. This is supported by the lessons of early colonization, a list composed by the early conquistadors of the Americas. Number three points out that it developed a valuable model for plantation slavery. Also, it was in the best interest of the civilizations to gain more lands and acquire a defensive position. These positions could be used in wartime against an enemy, for sea and land battles. Also, by the end of the 1400s, Europe had successfully rebounded back from the plague, making it a successful and working society again. The majority of the population had wanted to move away to different lands, but could not, considering they had not been discovered. In addition, the technology of Europe during the 15th century had changed drastically. New maps had been created, opening up the door to new land. Also, a new type of ship called the, ”Caravel” was developed specifically made for the advancement of discovery. On …show more content…
Around the time of 1492, the Americas were mostly inhabited by Meso-American civilizations, including the Incas, Mayans, and Aztecs. These notable civilizations were mainly agriculturally based and flourished because of this. Their economics were doing quite well and would regularly trade with one another. Many skilled workers lived in the region and helped around with the day-to-day tasks. The Americas can also be connected with the islands of Bahamas and Hispaniola. Agriculture was also plentiful there and a major component of the economy. However, after 1492, there were many negative occurrences including tyrannical expeditions. For example, in 1519, Hernan Cortes launched an expedition for the mainland in search for wealth. Once he reached the mainland, the Mayans greeted him with 20 female slaves. Two years later, Cortes would eventually want more wealth, and would completely destroy Tenochtitlan, the main Mayan city. This sparked Spanish colonization in the Americas. Colonization had three major elements. One, the crown maintained tight control over colony while imposing a hierarchical government with little autonomy. Two, all colonists sent from Spain were male but they took women as sexual partners. Three, Colonies wealth was based on exploitation of both the native population and slaves from Africa. After colonization came the exchange. Along these routes of exports and imports, there were transferred
Reading both passages of the two explorers, Christopher Columbus and Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, gives a great description of how the world was back in the 1500s. Now, although both were Spaniard explorers, each had different experiences and discoveries. One of the differences is how they approached exploring the new world. For instance, Columbus went to find new land in the west, while Cabeza de Vaca went as an expedition to already found lands. In addition, Columbus had a lot of success, while Cabeza de Vaca since the beginning, because of Narváez, “endured many disasters” (Baym, et al., 2013, p. 28). Furthermore, Christopher Columbus considered most important to find more land, and especially the route to reach Asia.
In 1492, Christopher Columbus was a self-made man who worked his way up to being the Captain of a merchant vessel. He gained the support of the Spanish monarchs, Ferdinand and Isabella, for an expedition to the Indies. With the support of the Spanish monarchy, he set off to find a new and faster trade route to the Indies. Upon the arrival of his first voyage, Columbus wrote a letter to Luis de Santangel, a “royal official and an early supporter of his venture,” in February 1493 (35). The epistle, letter, entitled “Letter to Luis de Santangel Regarding the First Voyage” was copied and then distributed in Spain before being translated and spread throughout Europe. The Letter is held in such regard with the people as it is considered the first printed description of the new world. Through his description of the nature of the islands, Columbus decided the future fate of the islands. His description of the vast beauty of the nature around him, declares both the economic and nationalistic motivations for colonizing the new world.
During the 15th century Europe had numerous changes. The population expanded rapidly which gave rise to new classes of merchants. European nations were very wealthy when it came to spices. Therefore, they traded them on the land route from Asia. These land routes were controlled by the Turkish Empire, which lead to many problems for the countries who were trying to trade these spices and acquire other valuables. This then steered them to begin searching for other routes of trade to essentially cut out the “middle man”. A race then began to erupt between many European countries such as Portugal, Spain, France, and England. These four countries all wanted to be the first to discover new land. However, Portugal pulled ahead and sailed along
Christopher Columbus was a famous navigator and explorer who was born in 1451 in Genoa, Italy. Columbus wanted to claim land for Spain so he could be rich and spread religion. He originally set out to find the East Indies for many reasons. One was that he hoped to establish trade routes and colonies in order to gain wealth. Another was that there were now bigger guns that could be strapped on ships so he felt that his voyage had more of a chance of being successful. The main reasons for his exploration was that he wanted to find a western route to Asia to find the riches that Marco Polo talked about in his book. So basically he was not courageous, he was just greedy. He intended on arriving in Japan on his first voyage, but instead, he arrived at the Bahamas archipelago. He ended up making numerous voyages and claiming the lands he visited for the Spanish Empire. Columbus continued voyages creating the first lasting European conta...
It is thought by many that Christopher Columbus was a skilled sailor on a mission of greed. Many think that he in fact did it all for the money, honor and the status that comes with an explorer, but this is not the case entirely. Columbus was an adventurer and was enthused by the thrill of the quest of the unknown. “Columbus had a firm religious faith and a scientific curiosity, a zest for life, the felling for beauty and the striving for novelty that we associate with the advancement of learning”. He had heard of the legendary Atlantic voyages and sailors reports of land to the west of Madeira and the Azores. He believed that Japan was about 4,800 km to the west of Portugal. In 1484, Columbus wanted support for an exploratory voyage from King John II of Portugal, but he was refused. In 1485, Columbus took his son Diego and went to Spain to get some help.
In 1492, on a search for an Atlantic route to the West Indies, the explorer Christopher Columbus became the first European to set foot in the Americas after disembarking on the island of Hispaniola. The Spanish, who had financed Columbus’s voyage, wasted little time in sending men to settle and explore the newly discovered land. However, the Spanish settlers were not alone; the Americas were already inhabited by indigenous peoples living in complex societies. The Spanish arrival in the Americas led to the collapse of the great Mesoamerican and Andean civilizations and the mass subjugation of the Amerindian population. The exchange of religion, goods, livestock, and disease between the Spanish and indigenous tribes further transformed Native American societies.
The immediate cause of the European voyages of discovery was the conquest of Constantinople by the Ottoman Turks in 1453. While Egypt and Italian city-state of Venice was left with a monopoly on ottoman trade for spices and eastern goods it allowed Portugal and Spain to break the grip by finding an Atlantic route. Portugal took the lead in the Atlantic exploration because of the reconquest from the Muslims, good finances, and their long standing seafaring traditions. In dealing with agriculture, The Portuguese discovered Brazil on accident, but they concentrated on the Far East and used Brazil as a ground for criminals. Pernambuco, the first area to be settled, became the world’s largest sugar producer by 1550. Pernambuco was a land of plantations and Indian slaves. While the market for sugar grew so did the need for slaves. Therefore the African Slave start became greatly into effect. Around 1511 Africans began working as slaves in the Americas. In 1492, Columbus embarked on his voyage from Spain to the Americas. The Euro...
The Spaniards arrived at the Americas prior to the English. The Spanish mainly wanted to explore in the first place because after the Black Death, the population increased, and thus, so did the frequency of commerce. There was a sudden new interest in new products and the new strong monarchs who sponsored the journeys wanted to be more affluent. Therefore, explorers such as Christopher Columbus attempted to go west to target Asia. However, he ended up on Cuba and called the natives Indians. The Spanish soon started to consider the Americas less of a blockage and could now see it as a source of resources. In 1518, Cortes arrived into Mexico with his group of conquistadors, or conquerors, which is a proper name because the men after gold exterminated native areas using their military skills, brutality and greed to turn the Southern America into a vast Spanish empire. The smallpox the Spanish unknowingly carried also helped wipe many people out. When they saw the religious ceremonies of the Aztecs that produced many skulls, they thought of these people as savages and not entirely human. This of coarse was quite hypocritical because the Spanish have killed before during the Inquisition for their faith. It was this contempt that made them think it was all right to slaughter the natives. Spanish colonies were established when conquistadors had gotten a license to finance the expedition from the crown to fixture encomiendas. These encomiendas were basically Indian villages that became a source of labor. The Spanish dreamed of becoming wealthier from South America, but they also wanted a profitable agricultural economy and to spread their Catholic religion (the Pueblo Indians converted to Christianity), which became very important in the 1540s.
Age of Explorations was a time of discovery of the new world during the 15th through 17th century. Many Explorers were in search for new passage ways, new trading ports, new land, new spices, and riches. The three explorers discussed in this paper is Henry Hudson, Jacques Cartier, and Francisco Pizarro. Henry Hudson was an explorer whose main purpose was to find a route to Asia from Europe, he had a series of three voyages trying to achieve this. Jacques Cartier was sent to find riches and a route to Asia as well. Francisco Pizarro served on an expedition, which he discovered the Pacific Ocean.
Curiosity, coupled with the desire for economic accomplishments, attracted settlers searching for wealth in the New World. With the discovery of gold and silver in Spain, for instance, young, white males immigrated to the New World eager for prosperity around 1600-1650. Ironically, the same gold and silver which attracted immigrants for wealth, also led to inflation in Spain which ultimately weakened the Spanish nation. Noticing the deteriorating hold Spain had upon on the New World, England emerged from a once passive position of “privateers,” to actual colonization. The search for economic superiority continued, yet with at first, failed attempts – Roanoke Island, for instance. However, with the founding of Jamestown, Virginia, and the succes...
The Triangular Trade was the fundamental foundation of many economic and social developments of this nation. However, this historical turning point in America’s history did not develop overnight. In Africa, the practice of enslavement had been occurring internally for centuries, but as the Triangular Trade developed between the Old World and New World, the slave labor system transformed and began to become an integral part of many nation’s economic systems. As the demand for agricultural products, such as tobacco and sugar, increased, the Atlantic Slave Trade also expanded as the need for laborers proliferated. Thus, the Triangular Trade was the building blocks of the United States, economically affected the world, and ultimately impacted racial
Before prince Henry who was one of the first European explores to explore, nobody in Europe knew anything about the outside world. People had been to the very tip of Africa and had seen a little bit of Asia. But the Americas were unheard of and the only way to get to Asia was a very long trek on land. The European’s were still using Ptolemy’s map, which was written around A.D. that is 1290 years before and are still using it. Around the 1400s lots of discoveries are happening in Europe, Baroque, renaissance and new sciences like math. People are starting to do things differently than they used to. Also the Europeans were having to get all of the imported good from the Muslims, who were bringing spices and silk from Asian countries
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...
By 1486, he met himself in Spain. Spain has an Incredible Hulk interest in trading with Asia. Who would not? They have everything people want. If they could find or discover a shorter route it will give them advantages in trading, but Columbus had to convince King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain to underwrite his expedition, but why would they do it? They all wanted fame and fortune. Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand were focused on the war with the Muslims, so she appointed a royal commission to view his ideas. The Talavera Commission, royal commision, put Columbus on hold. In the meantime, he continued to try to get support for his plans from other monarchies. Columbus soon got in contact with the Portuguese. Christopher moved only to find out that the Portuguese already found a passageway to India and they no longer interested in him. Columbus. This navigator thought the Earth was a sphere and the distance between Canary Islands and Japan were to be about 2300 miles. He is wrong. He also hypothesis that the world was a sphere. He, again is wrong. The world was much larger than he thought. In the late 1490's
In the years leading up to and including 1491, European explorers had been researching and studying the world, however they lacked a real understanding of the true size and geography of our planet. When explorers finally began setting out on their expeditions in the late 1400’s, the world began to experience serious change. Before Columbus is credited with the discovery of America in 1492, the Americas were untouched by Europeans, but within a few hundred years permanent settlements would be founded on American soil despite the presence of the native people. In 1492, Christopher Columbus set sail on a voyage searching for a route across the Atlantic to Asia for the Spain’s King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella. Instead of reaching Asia, Columbus actually landed on present-day San Salvador Island.