The Impacts Of European Exploration

The world is constantly changing, but imagine someone finding an entire new continent. Europeans decided to start exploring as they slowly became almost addicted to amazing new things from China and India like spices. They were extremely expensive and high in demand, so explorers were consumed with the idea of find a faster route for the goods to travel. When Columbus and his crew spotted the Bahamas October 12, 1492, they spotted opportunities they could only dream of. Exploration impacted Europeans, African Americans, and Native Americans each in very different ways. A desire for unique goods and a little exploring changed the world forever.

To say Europeans benefited them most from European exploration would be an understatement. This

Slavery had always been a part of their culture, but it seems as if as Europeans discovered more, slavery started to rise. This was the beginning of the end for African culture and unique tribal features. The Portuguese used these techniques to start their own larger scale version of slave trade for the sugar plantation. When America was discovered there were many new crops to grow. Since people saw Africans as cheap and good labor, it was not a big decision to use them. European exploration led to slaves becoming a booming business and to them being a staple in plantations in America. If the Portuguese had not explored Africa, slavery may have never become as popular. This could have prevented African Americans in America from facing racism and a lack of human rights. Exploration that led to slavery also aided in destroying families, culture, language, history, and tribes in Africa. Sadly slavery also benefited very few Africans because they were involved in selling or aiding the Portuguese in trade. Another effect of Europeans finding the Americas was that the loss of population from slave trade was balanced by a population increase because of foods like corn and sweet potatoes being introduced. This allowed tribes to rebuild and for their lives to become as normal as possible again .If they had not been introduced to these foods and a famine or disease came through, Africa possibly

They had lived in the Americas since they crossed the land bridge in the time of Pangea and lived in harmony with the Earth. Little did they know their entire existence would be changed and threatened with the arrival of strangers. The Aztecs had advances in agriculture and architecture, but no large animals like horses for work or a wheel. When Cortes came with horses, this could have given them the opportunity to develop further. The Native Americans in present day America used horse for hunting and being nomads. Without explorers introducing these animals, Native Americans may have never been able to advance or have the culture they have today. One negative effect of exploration was the explorers were very cruel to the Native Americans. Many took their gold, brought diseases, fought with them, forced them to accept European ways, and started encomienda. These actions led to their population decreasing rapidly. They lack immunities for diseases like small pox and the plague combined with people dying in battles or of exhaustion during slavery left very small numbers. This led to entire tribes dying out along with their unique language and culture. History is missing whole societies of the past who first lived in the Americas because explorers found them and caused them to die. The Native Americans who survived were treated poorly; some had to convert to Christianity, and then start following a modified European