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Exploratons and Colonization of North and South America

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Exploration and colonization of North and South America were ultimately not beneficial in the 15th and 16th centuries because it wiped out many cultures and did more harm than good. First of all, the Europeans forcibly converted the Natives to Christianity. This had a great negative impact because it resulted in the loss of native cultures. Over time, many Native American languages started to disappear from common use and English took over. Many may argue that colonization and exploration were important because of the Columbian Exchange that arose from it, however diseases and the slave trade also came from the Columbian exchange. I believe that the death of millions was not a reasonable price to pay for the benefits of the Europeans. It was rumoured that 90% of the natives died from hard labor, disease and war and that was such a huge loss of a population (ushistory.org). Another negative effect of the exploration and colonization of the Americas was the introduction of slavery. Columbus started the slave trade and though it did benefit the Europeans, many natives lived a life of suffering and died from the hard labor that there were forced into (thehuffingtonpost.com). Though there were some positive effects that came out of the exploration and colonization of the Americas, the negative effects ultimately outweighed the positives.
Throughout the colonies, religious toleration was widely practiced. Many may argue that the colonies did not practice religious toleration because of the Puritans of Massachusetts Bay Colony that escaped Europe for the freedom to practice Puritanism and then proceeded to not practice religious toleration (smithsonianmag.com). However, the majority of the colonies were colonies of religious freedom.. A...

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