The Lewis and Clark expedition laid the foundation for the understanding and exploration of the western territories. The gold rush prompted an immediate and massive movement of people. This even caused the integration of the West into the United States, economic development, and rapid settlement. The gold rush's influence on economic activities, population growth, and migration patterns had a more transformative and direct effect on the West's demography and landscape than Lewis and Clark's exploratory mission. The ideology of manifest destiny had a crucial role in shaping the Lewis and Clark Expedition and the California Gold Rush.
In chapter 1 of Discovering Our Past: The American Journey, by Glencoe, the main idea is exploration and its impact on the Americas. Clearly, exploration made a huge impact on the world by discovering new places, finding new routes, and riches. Portugal and Spain unleashed a new era of exploration by searching for sea routes to Asia by ship, Portugal mainly started the “Age of Exploration” because a sailor named Bartholomeu Dias reached the southern tip of Africa which was new land to them and a little while after, Vasco da Gama found the “long awaited” Sea route to Asia which inspired other people to sail as well. Other people had different goals while exploring the sea, like Ferdinand Magellan who was the leader of the first crew to sail around the world.
In the 1500’s and 1600’s, Europe dived into an era of exploration of new trade routes. Exploration carried out by explorers like Cortes, Diaz and Da Gama led Europe into new lands. The main motivations of these explorers were to gather spices and gold. Their countries were infatuated with the spices of Asia and with precious metals. Religion was not the main motivation for European exploration during the 15th and 16th centuries; however, the search for wealth was.
The Age of Exploration is what causes Americans to now celebrate Columbus Day. The Age of Exploration inspired Christopher Columbus to sail west to find the Northwest Passage and wealth. Although it is believed that Columbus was not the first to make it to the New World his discovery caused massive change. The Age of Exploration sparked by the desire of more successful trade routes and goods set off the momentous, Colombian Exchange which led to the spread of disease and swop of animals as well as crops. The Age of Exploration was initiated by the Europeans because of their desire for luxury goods from Asia and a faster way of getting them.
The main reasons being between the economic, religious, political, and social reasons. Many European nations, especially England, wished to expand its territory, wealth, and power. For them, it was a competition to gain land and a wealth of precious metals, such as silver and gold, in the New World. Another source of profit was in raw goods. They planned to find raw materials
Before Hitchcock’s film Psycho in 1960, many individuals watched the movies from beginning to end as if it were non important. Alfred Hitchcock grabbed the the audiences minds and created suspense, anxiety, horror, and leaving the viewers at the edge of their seats wanting more. Because of this newfound view of films, Alfred Hitchcock’s ideas inspired some of the scariest movies known today which you may know as The Exorcist, Halloween, The Shining, and more.
New technological developments in ships helped Europe expand its territory to other continents. A letter to Christopher Columbus from the rulers of Spain revealed that he had sailed the seas to discover and conquer new land for Spain. If he succeeded in this task and spread Christianity, not only would he be rewarded, but the rest of Spain would be too (Document 1). This letter is most likely true due to the fact that it was written by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain, who were funding Christopher’s exploration. The main goal of the Age of Exploration was to get more money and territory and to spread Christianity.
It caused the cherokee indians a lot of lives. Many indians got kicked out of their homes, most people who died were children or elderly. California Gold Rush In 1848 a guy named James W. Marshall who worked at a mill accidently discovered gold when he was working on his mill. He tried to keep the gold a secret that way he could get all of the money to himself, but it didn’t work, people found out.
Many European explorers wanted to become wealthier in their travels. This is shown in Letter of Christopher Columbus to Luis de Sant Angel, where the text states, “I can give them as much gold, spices, cotton, and as many Indian slaves as they choose to send for.” Christopher Columbus is requesting that King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella fund his journey. He promises to make them rich in return. This demonstrates how explorers, like Columbus, were seeking gold and other treasures when they began exploring.
In the late 1700’s and early 1800’s, the United States (US) was rapidly expanding. The economy was growing, the population was increasing, and many people came to the US looking to strike rich. The US was also rapidly expanding westward. Many people wanted access to the plentiful natural resources located on Indian territory in the West. The promise of gold also lured Americans west.
Most people went to California to dig for gold. However, not all were successful in finding Gold. The Gold Rush wasn’t all about mining gold. Many people provided resources for the miners such as food, extra mining materials, clothing, etc. The whole exploration provided immigrants and natives with jobs that they could benefit from.
The Gold Rush supposedly inspired the largest mass movement of people in world history because of the incredibly large masses of gold being found in the West. People found thousands of dollars in gold and people of all different cultures and backgrounds moved Westwards in hopes of finding gold as well. The Gold Rush left a positive effect on American History because Americans became wealthier and more foreigners came to California which expanded diversity. To start, Americans were able to sell this gold in exchange for loads of money. One man who only had a piece of land that was four feet square “got thirty pounds of gold in less than a month.”.
In regards to positive impacts, the mass of immigrants brought new religions into the American culture as many of the immigrants were Catholic or Jewish. As the push westward continued, the discovery of gold and silver gave hope to many who were poor that they could stake a claim and strike it rich. However, unknown to them, their chances of striking it rich were slim. Hence, the California Gold rush.
European explorers and conquistadors during the age of exploration were motivated by three things: God, gold and glory. The two most prominent of the three between 1492 and 1607 were gold and glory. Beginning in 1492 gold motivated many explorers, from Christopher Columbus’s voyage to the New World to the Virginia Company’s colonization of America. Gold is a symbol for wealth, and many explorers soon realized the New World’s potential for wealth. The Spanish’s interest in wealth inspired Columbus’s expedition in the first place, as he was sent to India to trade for spices.
There are many effects of the Europeans voyages to the Americas that have effects on today’s society. One reason as to why the Europeans began their exploration is that they wanted to find gold. Columbus saw that some of the Native Americans were wearing little pieces of gold as accessories and the Europeans imagined fields of gold. When the Natives took them to where the gold was, there was very little and the Europeans did not like this.
