AskEssays.com - Discover essay samples

Extent of european influence b

4.9 of 5.0 (98 reviews)

Contains
644 words
Category
History

Extent of european influence b Page 1
Extent of european influence b Page 2
The above thumbnails are of reduced quality. To view the work in full quality, click download.

Extent of european influence b


The Extent of European Influence on the World in 1650



The extent of European influence was almost unavoidable during the 1650's. After the Dark Ages and the Renaissance were over Europe became an intellectual and wealthy hub in the known world. There are several reasons that made this possible. A few were there vast merchant trading system there ability to maintain advanced weapon technology and the most important factor, the drive to explore everywhere there ships would take them. With these factors in place it is no surprise that Europe was a dominant world power. Their desire to expand their nations was so strong that many explorers dedicated their lives to discovering and conquering new lands. This is not to say that their motivations were not money. The only way to survive was to be the ones with the most money because from wealth everything else followed. Not to mention the blood that was shed along the way from the millions of natives that were enslaved, tortured and killed.

The first explorers or conquistadors, were actually Spanish and not English, contrary to popular belief. The three main conquistadors were Cortes, Columbus and Pizarro. Probably the most ironic part of that new age of discovery is that when Columbus original departed from Spain his mission was to find a quicker trade route to Asia than the Portuguese. Columbus found the America's by accident. At first he thought that he had come upon the Islands southeast of India. But it was not until some other Spanish explorer climbed a huge mountain in Central America and saw there was an even bigger ocean on the other side. This made it quite obvious that this was not the Indies but a completely new continent. All this is important because finding this new land was untouched resources is how Europe turned a new trade route into a whole new very wealthy economy.

It was not very long until the French, English and even the Swedes figured out that this was something that they should probably start doing. The bottom line with any country at this time was to expand and start building a solid economy; learning through others did this. When the Spanish discovered the largest silver mine in Peru they created a whole new way to make money. Instead of using the land to make money, they simply extracted it from the earth and shipped it over to Spain. So here they have all this money and all they do is spend it. They could have used the money to build factories and build up the economy in Spain. Instead they spread all there wealth throughout Europe making other countries rich. Finally Spain ran out of money, mostly due to the fact that all there major silver and gold mines in the America's had run out. This is what gave the rest of Europe a chance to move in on all this new territory. Along with the defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588 by the English, It immediately became the time for other countries to make the move to the west.

As mentioned before there were many reasons for the domination of America by Europe. To start with Europe ability to set up and maintain busy trading routes was remarkable. Vast trade routes were set up by sea around the southern tip of Africa to other trade routes to Asia, all stopping at different ports along the way. Because these routes took them around Africa it gave the merchants a chance to make a lot of profit. The still primitive Africans did not have the knowledge of making metal so it was an extensive commodity. For example they could trade a metal knife or pot for twenty bags of grain. In ...

You are currently seeing 50% of this paper.

You're seeing 644 words of 1287.

Similar essays


Slavey Then and Now

Slavery: Then and Now When we think about slavery many things come to our mind. There are many different ways one can describe slavery. If you were to look it up in a dictionary it would say that a slave is 'one who is owned and forced into service by another,' this was the definition given in the Webster's Dictionary. But then again...

52 reviews
Download
Indus Valley Civilization

The earliest known Southern Asian civilization, flourishing c.2300- 1750 BC across 1.1 million km2 / ' million mi.2 around the Indus in Pakistan. Over 100 sites have been identified with important urban centers at Mohenjo-daro and Harappa (Pakistan), and Kalibangan and Lothal (Western India). There were uniform principles of urban planning, with st...

18 reviews
Download
Catacombs

The and Christian Persecutions The catacombs are the ancient underground cemeteries used by the Christians and the Jewish people in Rome. The Christian catacombs began in the second century and the hollowing out continued until the first half of the fifth century. In the beginning they were only burial places, but later they gathered to...

19 reviews
Download
D-day

What day in your life was the most important? One of the most important days during World War II was . Don't be mistaken by the word it did not all happens in just one day but many days. was just a code name for the day that Operation Overload started. is very well known for the beginning of the end of the war in Europe and Hitler's rule ove...

187 reviews
Download
WarCauses

By: Leo Dorfman Causes of the Civil War Although some historians feel that the Civil War was a result of political blunders and that the issue of slavery did not cause the conflict, they ignore the two main causes. The expansion of slavery, and its entrance into the political scene. The North didn't care about slavery as long as it stayed i...

162 reviews
Download
History of the Panama Canal

In 1825, a group of American businesspeople announced the formation of a canal building company, with interests in constructing a canal system across the Isthmus. This project was to take place in an area now called Panama. The endeavor was filled with controversy. Though the canal itself was not built until the early 1900's every...

76 reviews
Download
Ceasar vs

. louis 16th Louis XIV vs. Julius Caesar There have been many powerful leaders in history. Many of them share certain characteristics. Louis XIV was one of these leaders. He displayed characteristics like ambitious, arrogant, and oppressive. Many characters from the play The Tragedy of Julius Caesar share these characteristics with Lou...

162 reviews
Download
FDR and the Great Depression

Critque the efficiency of of FDR's administration at alleviating the suffering of the great Depression FDR truely tried to help the people and wanted to make a change. He was mostly successfull with his New Deal Program. Each Program helped a different part of the the country and its people. Focusing only on some programs which were in the l...

66 reviews
Download
Events Leading To The American

During the late seventeen hundreds, many tumultuous events resulted in Colonial opposition to Great Britain. The conditions of rights of the colonists will slowly be changed as the constriction of the parliament becomes more and more intolerable. During the Seven Years' War England was not only alarmed by the colonists' insistence on tradi...

105 reviews
Download
Transportation in the 19th Century

During the first half of the 19th century, improvements in transportation developed rather quickly. Roads, steamboats, canals, and railroads all had a positive effect on the American economy. They also provided for a more diverse United States by allowing more products to be sold in new areas of the country and by opening new marke...

198 reviews
Download
Articles of Confederation

The was the first constitution of the United States of America. The Articles of Confederation were first drafted by the Continental Congress in Philadelphia Pennsylvania in 1777. This first draft was prepared by a man named John Dickinson in 1776. The Articles were then ratified in 1781. The cause for the changes to be made was...

59 reviews
Download
Truman Doctrine

The was the impetus for the change in United States foreign policy, from isolationist to internationalists; thus we were drawn into two wars of containment and into world affairs. The led to a major change in U.S. foreign policy from its inception - aid to Turkey and Greece - to its indirect influence in Korea and Vietn...

57 reviews
Download
Jimmy Carter

The President of Peace was born October 1, 1924, in the small farming town of Plains, Georgia, and grew up in the nearby community of Archery. His father, James Earl Carter, Sr., was a farmer and businessman; his mother, Lillian Gordy, a registered nurse. He was educated in the Plains public schools, attended Georgia Southwestern College and t...

84 reviews
Download
Irish in america

The United States has always been known as "The Land of Immigrants." People from all parts of the globe have traveled to America, to be free from oppression, disease, and hunger, or simply to start a new life. Many different people of different culture, race, and religion have made their mark and helped to shape the American culture. One of the...

202 reviews
Download
Atsisiųsti šį darbą