G-d, Gold, and Glory. These were the 3 main goals the Europeans had in mind when they decided to conquer. To understand what I'm talking about, let's fly back in time to the time of Marco Polo. He was a man from Venice who embarked on his trip to Asia when he was 17. That was the first. Prince Henry the Navigator had a goal to sail down next to the African coast. They were already ahead in technology with the Caraval. Prince Henry had found a sea route to Asia and had eliminated the Middle Man (the person who the government has to pay to ship goods). This game Portugal an advantage, causing other countries to become jealous. Explorers conquered land for the glory of their country, for gold, and to spread the word of G-d. Because of the new technology that is starting to float around, there is no use for the Middle Man(A guy paid to ship something to somewhere, basically an extra person to pay) any more.
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Inventors started to rise in Europe and Gold was heard about in West Africa. People started to have a hunger for what is out there. The Caraval allowed sailors to sail against the wind and the barometer helps the sailors navigate through fog and other dangerous elements. Christopher Columbus was sent by the king and queen of Spain to sail around the world and reach Asia. Columbus landed on an island later called the Dominic Republic and Haiti. His discovery of the "new" world brought upon the greatest cultural diffusion the world has ever seen. Cows and horses and other animals were brought over to the new world while vegetables such as corn and tomatoes were shipped back. There were also some negativity like disease. European disease killed millions of native Americans, making the land even easier to conquer.
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Spanish conquistadors such as Fransisco Pizarro or Hernando Cortez started conquering the land for Spain. Spain got most of south and central America. Portugal got the tip of Brazil. The French patrolled west America and east Canada. The English took up control in the 13 colonies. more and more goods were being shipped back to Europe. America was loosing natives as fast as it was loosing its forests.
Europe on Natives: Disease, Slavery, Christianity, Taking away homeland. |