Essay Sample avout The Age of Exploration and Colonization

As the first Europeans explored the New World, they evaluated the land for a water route to Asia. This was in honor of achieving goods like spices, porcelain, silk, and gold. Most explorers were unsuccessful with finding a water route, but they did “discover '' new land which was located in the Western Hemisphere. As the “new land” became more popular amongst explorers, more and more of them went on a journey in hopes of finding the “New World ''. The Age of Exploration and colonization were both caused by the wish of spreading Christianity and new ways to make money. The end result of this was the Spanish conquering the Native people and converting them and Africans to slaves and the Comercial revolution which allowed for a new way of getting wealthy.  

The start of the age of exploration was in the 1400s, this is because the Europeans who were exploring the “new land” wanted to discover trade routes to Asia, find new ways to gain wealth, and to spread Christianity. This also was the time when the Spanish conquered America in hopes of reaching an exponential growth in their religion’s population. One of the most impactful causes was the Americas getting overrun by Spain and Portugal. A very famous explorer tried to stop the invasion, thus creating tension between Spain and Portugal. That explorer was named Christopher Columbus. In 1492, Christopher Columbus, the Italian sea captain, made a successful attempt at convincing Spain to finance a very risky plan of his. He was planning on finding a route to Asia by sailing west across the Atlantic Ocean. He thought that he had reached an island in the Carribeans, but was mistaken and ended up in the east Indies. Although his plan seemed to fail, it didn't. Without his voyage, the Spanish would have never found the Natives or even had the idea to conquer the Native people and the Americas. This would however immediately create tensions between Spain and Portugal. Although there was tremendous tension, there was no stopping the attempt at invasion. The Spanish conquered the Native Americans through the use of the Conquistadors and the Encomienda System. A Spaniard named Hernando Cortés was a very important figure in this invasion. He attempted to obtain new land for Spain using conquistadors. The conquistadors were men who followed Hernando Cortés. They helped with invasions and tried to convert the native populations in the New World. After colonizing several Caribbean islands, Cortés and many other Spanish explorers were lured in by rumors of vast lands filled with gold and silver. This resulted in the Spanish conquering the Natives. After the conquering of the Native people, the encomienda system developed. In this system, the Spanish forced Native Americans to work in farms, ranches, or mines for Spanish landlords. The holders of Natives promised the Spanish rulers that they would act kindly and respect the workers. However, many abused the Natives and worked many laborers to death, especially inside dangerous mines. This resulted in an immense amount of deaths among the Native Americans which would make it simpler in colonizing the Americas. Overall, the Spanish and Portuguese used several different tactics in the invasion of the Americas. The tactics included the encomienda system, the use of Conquistadors, and Christopher Columbus finding an island in the Caribeans.  

The first effect of the conquering of the Native people and Africans was Slavery. The Encomienda system and the colonization of the Natives and Africans opened up a whole new way of treating their workers, which exposed the idea of slavery. Africans were taken as slaves because they could be bought to do cheap labor on plantations and farms. European slave owners originally planned to use Native Americans as slaves, but millions of them had died from disease, warfare, and horrible treatment. This led people to turn their eyes onto Africa for their workers. Most of the Africans who were captured were either taken in battles, kidnapped, or sold into slavery for debt or as punishment. The Europeans thought enslaving Africans made the most sense because they thought of the many advantages of using Africans in the Americas. To start off with their reasoning, Africans had already been exposed to European diseases and had built up immunity. Also, The Africans had experience in the work that the Europeans needed to be done like farming. They also thought that Africans wouldn’t be likely to be able to escape because they weren’t familiar with the land and their way out. After they figured out who the cheap laborers would be, a system called the triangle of trade came about. Africans who were transported to the Americas were part of a trading network known as the triangular trade.  Europeans would transport manufactured goods to the west coast of Africa. Then, traders would exchange the goods in order to obtain Africans. They were then transported across the Atlantic and sold in the West Indies. On a different triangular trade route, merchants carried rum and other goods from the New England colonies to Africa. There they exchanged their merchandise for Africans. The traders that transported the Africans to the West Indies and sold them to merchants for sugar and molasses which were then sold to multiple rum producers in New England. Another part of slaves being trasported was throguh the middle passage. This was a voyage that brought captured Africans to the West Indies and later to North and South America. This journey was cruel and very hard for the slaves because of the way that they were transported. European traders tightly packed Africans into the deep, dark holds of large ships. During the voyage, Africans endured whippings and beatings, starvation and, diseases. There were so many people and so little of a food supply that most slaves didn’t get the chance to eat and ended up starving to death. Africans also died from disease spreading on the ship or physical abuse. Disease could easily spread because of how packed the ships were. If Africans didn’t starve or catch disease, they would have most likely killed themselves. The Atlantic slave trade had a very negative impact on both Africa and the Americas. In Africa, many cultures lost generations of their young members who were taken as slaves. Additionally, countless African families were torn apart and many of them would never reunite. The slave trade also introduced guns into Africa, which hurt Africans. African slaves did however contribute immensly to the economic and cultural development of the Americas. Enslaved Africans brought their expertise in agriculture and their culture. The art, music, religion, and food of Africa continuously influenced American societies. Also, enslaved Africans made mixed-race populations throughout the Americas. Overall, slavery affected Africa very badly as it diminshed their culture and separated family members. On the other hand, slavery impacted the Americas in a helping way because it brought new culture, and allowed for the Americas to be a culturally diverse country.   

Another effect of the Age of Exploration was the change in world-wide business. The first part of this effect was the commercial revolution. The commercial revolution was a time when businesses all around the world changed and the European economy changed. During this time, Europe founded a new economic policy known as mercantilism. Mercantilism means to hold a country’s power depended mainly on its wealth. This is why becoming wealthier was such a big deal to Europeans. Wealth allowed nations to build strong navies and purchase traded goods. Mercantilism also caused some changes. Some of the changes were inflation due to the flood of gold and silver that was brought into Europe, the stock exchange, and the banking system. This also resulted in an increase in trade, which led to merchants becoming wealthier. Another system that changed businesses all around the world was the Columbian exchange. The Columbian Exchange was the global transfer of foods, plants, and animals. Ships from the Americas brought a  variety of goods to Europe, Asia, and Africa. Most of these goods were never seen before. Some of the most popular things that were transferred over were foods like tomatoes, squash, pineapple, and cacao beans. The global transfer of these foods resulted in trading over the Atlantic flowing in both directions. Another type of good that was introduced was livestock. The Europeans horses, cattle, sheep, and pigs. Africa also contributed and brought bananas, black-eyed peas, and yams. The back and forth trade resulted in more wealth being up for grabs. Another new business venture that developed during this period was the joint-stock company. This joint-stock is similar to modern- day companies which consist of investors buying shares of stock in a company. This involved many people combining their wealth for a common purpose of making the world a wealthier place. Capitalism was also very popular during these times. It was an economic system based on private ownership and investing money into it for profit. Overall, all of these different types of businesses were changed by the commercial revolution, in the best way possible. The economy got much wealthier and so did its citizens.  

In conclusion, both the Age of Exploration and Colonization changed the world in many different ways. Some were good like increasing trade which lead to a wealthier economy and people, but some were also terrible like slavery and disease spreading. Although some changes were good and some changes were bad, the world still drastically changed its way of dealing with situations. All of the changes were first started by many different explorers trying to find new ways of trade and spreading their religion. These explorers include but are not limited to Hernando Cortés and Christopher Columbus.