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Impact of columbian exchange
Impact of columbian exchange
Impact of columbian exchange
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More handpicked essays just for you.
Impact of columbian exchange
Impact of columbian exchange
Impact of columbian exchange
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
1495, three years after Columbus's discovery of the new world, Maximo Zamoria, a Spanish conquistador, set off to the Americas in search of gold and glory. Maximo gathered a crew of one hundred strong and well-trained men, along with his right hand man, Samuel. With the permission of the Spanish king, Maximo and his men gathered enough supplies for half a year of travel, and got the finest Spanish sailing vessel to set off for the new world.
Conquistador, written by Buddy Levy about the famous ventures of Hernan Cortes, places the reader in the 16th century, or the era c.1450-c. 1750 ce. During this time, the idea of exploration was spreading quickly, as kingdoms and empires in Europe sought to expand their territory. Portugal, with Spain following after, led the way for exploration as they headed south. Spain, however, ventured west, driven by a patriotic attitude of expanding past their borders. Levy tells the story of Hernan Cortes, originally setting sail from Spain, as he sailed from Cuba to the shores of Mexico in 1519, eager about the discovery of new lands.
In 1542, Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo was the first European to explore California. Cabrillo was “a Portuguese navigator sailing under the flag of Spain” (Orsi, and Gutiérrez 83). Cabrillo landed in modern day San Diego, and “after six days' rest” he continued his expedition and discovered Catalina Island, sites of San Pedro, Santa Monica and Santa Barbara Channel Islands (Orsi, and Gutiérrez 85). California was of little interest to the explorers. During Cabrillo’s expedition, he found no wealth in California.
Among the explorers of North America that sought out and plundered the natives’ riches, Hernando De Soto is noted for combing over the southeast. During this journey De Soto is noted for meeting and sending Chief Tuscaloosa to his untimely death. Not only did Hernando De Soto and his crew kill Chief Tuscaloosa but they were known for conquering other natives in lust over their riches, such as gold and silver, not to mention their territory. The natives stood no chance against Hernando De Soto and his men, not only were the natives at a disadvantage technologically but the had been already injured socially and economically.
Some factors that best explain the success enjoyed by the 16th century conquistadors in conquering Native American empires include riding horses, wearing helmets, advanced weaponry, intimidation, strategy, and disease. Riding horses allowed the conquistadors to move fast and carry their weapons with them, causing fear in the Natives and their defeat. The conquistadors wore helmets that helped protect their heads from the Native American retaliation; this is a very vulnerable part of the body when not protected. Advanced weapons such as guns were terrifying to the Native Americans instilling fear in them and put them at a disadvantage in fighting off the conquistadors. Conquistadors were also armed with very perfected swords that were much
Núñez was treasurer to the Spanish expedition under Pánfilo de Narváez that reached what is now Tampa Bay, Florida, in 1528. By September all but his party of 60 had perished; it reached the shore near present-day Galveston, Texas. Of this group only 15 were still alive the following spring, and eventually only Núñez and three others remained. In the following years he and his companions spent much time among nomadic Indians, serving as slaves in order to be cared for by them. Núñez later reported that he had pretended at times to be a healer in order to receive better treatment and more food from the Indians.
With quotations from Columbus himself, it is impossible to get a more intimate look at Columbus’s actions in the Americas. While the majority of Zinn's sources seem veritable, Las Casas, reputed as a heated critic of the Spanish forces, seems to be of questionable validity. Las Casas’s claim of 3 million native deaths following the Spaniard's arrival seems grossly inflated, especially when compared to the 250,000 deaths calculated by historians. Such a large variance threatens the validity of Las Casas’s accounts. However, since Las Casas was the only eyewitness to many events regarding the Spanish conquest in North America it seems that including such bias is unavoidable.
Vasco de Gama is a Portuguese explorer who was looking for a way to go to the Indian Ocean and open a sea route between Europe and the East. Vasco de Gama began his first voyage to India from Lisbon in 1499. Vasco de Gama started by sailing down the Western Coast of Africa and around the Cape of Good Hope. He reached India and came back with a load of spices in 1499. Vasco de Gama had his last voyage in 1502.
The end of the fifteenth century is attributed as the time period in which Christopher Colombus “discovered” the Americas. Although he was allegedly the first European to have reached these unknown lands at the time, many sought to reach the new world, for a variety of reasons. Most of those people could be divided in two: the settlers and the conquerors. In North America, there were more of the former, people looking for a new home where they could rebuild their families and lives. In Meso-America, however, the goal was to exploit the lands in order to produce and extract new goods which they could trade.
Spanish voyages searched for gold. Spanish conquistadors in the 16th century
The feeling of treading new lands, that is what the first Europeans experienced. When Christopher Columbus returned to Spain is when the age of exploration truly began. The Spanish conquistadors were the first of the European explorers whom came to the Americas. There were four reasons why they decided to start exploring the new world. These reasons include; the willingness to learn, religion, economics, and politics.
When thinking of the Spanish Conquest, two groups often come to mind: the Spaniards and the Native Americans. The roles of each of these groups and their encounters have been so heavily studied that often the role of Africans is undermined. As Matthew Restall states in his article Black Conquistadors, the justifications for African contribution are often “inadequately substantiated if not marginalized [as the] Africans were a ubiquitous and pivotal part of the Spanish conquest campaigns in the Americas […]” (Restall 172). Early on in his article, Restall characterizes three categories of Africans present during the Conquest – mass slaves, unarmed servants of the Spanish, and armed auxillaries (Restall 175).
Although early exploration in the Americas caused deaths of the natives, centuries later viceroyalties and classes were adapted from the european influence. Europeans explored the Americas and Africa in the 15th century. In document one a map shows the Inca Empire, Aztec Empire, the Aravak and Carib as Columbus and Pizarro traveled through the civilizations. Document 2 explains the cultural and physical attributes of Tenochitlan in the Americas. It is a letter from Hernan Cortes, a Spanish conquistador, to King Charles in Europe.
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.
The Catholic Church and Latin America The Catholic Church was a great power ruling many civilizations in Europe during the period between 1492 and 1830. Therefore, the role of the Catholic Church was of utmost importance to the colonization and development of Latin America as it was a great force in Spain and Portugal. Despite the peaceful teachings of the Church, greed and a hunger for power led them to make decisions harming Latin America and Christianity, rather than thriving it. In this paper, I will show that the Catholic Church is significantly responsible for the colonization and development of Latin America through, the Christianizing mission, the Treaty of Tordesillas, and the Spanish Inquisition.