Discovery of Americas and the Influence on the European Life - Essay Example

Month Discovery of Americas and the Influence on the European Life America was discovered by the Europeans long before Columbus. These discoveries led neither to the identification of America as a new continent, nor to the establishment of relations with Europe. America was finally discovered by Europeans in the 15t century. Initially, in the background of the Columbus voyage were the commercial interests to find the new routes to the rich countries of South. However, several mistakes were made in the calculations, and the sailors reached America instead of Japan. In this respect, Columbus’ discovery of a New World was a disappointment, because he had gone in search of western access to Japan and India. He failed to return to Spain loaded with spices. But next Spanish-backed explorations soon proved the value of the newly discovered lands (Kishlansky 358). The discoveries of Americas in the first place influenced the economic development of Europe. There began to emerge a colonial system that has accelerated the capitalist production in Western Europe and contributed to the accumulation of the large sums of money in the hands of bourgeoisie. The latter opened the door to the organization of the large enterprises. The discovery of new lands could not but influence the worldview of the European people, their religious, philosophical and religious thought. The discovery of Americas had also a huge impact on the European habits, because the first traders brought to Europe such integral parts of everyday life like chocolate and tobacco. These products were unknown in Europe before. The influence of tobacco and drinking chocolate could not be questioned. Thus, the current paper discusses the impact that the discovery of Americas had on the Western European economy, on religious and philosophical thought, and on people’s everyday habits in the early modern period. Passing to the economical changes brought by the discovery of Americas, due to the range of the challenging expeditions of the different parts of the world were connected by the trade routes. There began the development of the international market. The emergence of the international market was a powerful impetus for capitalism. The New World became a sales area for European manufacturers. The monopoly on these new markets guaranteed the rapid accumulation of capital in the countries of the Western Europe. There began the so-called “price revolution” (Fischer 68). It was caused by the import of large amounts of American gold and silver to Europe. During the 14th century the total amount of hard money in Europe increased more than 4 times. The large inflow of relatively cheap gold and silver led to the sharp drop of their value and to the significant increase in prices for agricultural and industrial products. The revolution in pries has strengthened the urban and rural bourgeoisie and advanced their incomes. The feudal lords were broken. The poorest peasants and workers suffered great damages due to the price revolution. The prices for agricultural products have grown to a much greater extent than for the luxuries (Fischer 77). In Spain, for example, due to the increasing costs a number of goods became uncompetitive. This was one of the reasons for the decline of the industry and commerce in this country. However, due to the same reasons the Dutch merchants came at the international stage as the leading trade agents. Gold inflation had a great impact on the industrial development, accelerating the transition to capitalism manufacturing. There was a sharp decline in the wages of the workers. Thought, the nominal value of the wages increased, it was not sufficient in comparison with price increases. In France, price revolution lead to the numerous peasants’ revolts, because they could not cope with burdensome taxes and rent they had to pay their lords. Naturally, when the prices for the goods of the first necessity became impossible, it led to the increasing discontent among masses (Spielvogel 452). England found itself on the crossroads of the world trade after the discovery of Americas and development of world trade routes. Growth of the industry on the continent gave an impetus to the increase of raw material production (wool) in England, where the manufactures of the newest kind were emerging. Their development was facilitated by the fact that a lot of specialists from Netherlands, France, and Germany, persecuted for their religious or political views, moved to England. In England occurred significant changes in the social structure. Besides industrial bourgeoisie, a true ally of capitalists became traditional nobility. The development of cloth manufacture in Flanders and later in England increased a demand of wool. In this respect, the price for the English wool during the 16th century increased by almost three times. Due to the “price revolution” the wages for the work fell and it became profitable to use labor in agriculture. Thus, the inflation together with the price revolution accelerated the development of capitalist relations and contributed to the emergence of a large numbers of waged laborers in England (Fischer 92). Significant changes occurred in the traditional agricultural sector of the European countries. There started the devaluation of the fixed cash rents that led to the impoverishment of the feudal nobility and the further disintegration of the feudal system. The rise in prices for the agricultural products caused an increase in rent. Only those feudal lords could adapt to the new system that leased their land or were ready to collect the rent as the proportion of the crop (Fischer 80). The center of the economic life shifted from the Mediterranean to the coast of Atlantics (Kishlansky 348). This led to the decline of the influential Italian cities-republics and to the rise of new centers of the world trade, Lisbon, Seville, and Antwerp. The latter was the richest city in Europe, a world trade and financial center. Thus, as a result of the discovery of Americas, the certain European countries were in the best possible conditions for the development of capitalist manufacturing. Religious and philosophical thought was another aspect influenced by the emergence of the new continent. The discovery of Americas, along with some other geographical trips, marked an essentially new historical era that was called the Age of Discovery. It is no coincidence that the date of the first journey of Christopher Columbus in 1492 became the chronological border that separated the medieval era from the Modern Times. The discovery of new countries, unknown tribes, and ethnic groups resulted in the change of the European outlook for several centuries ahead. There happened an overturn of the in the idea of the uniqueness of the European civilization, because other centers of culture had been found. It was not only the spatial vision that was expanding, but also the expanding of people’s outlook, because basing on the new discovered facts, the position of the man in the universe appeared in the new light. It was the most profound change in the history of culture. In the Renaissance disappeared the passivity of the preceding centuries and for the first time the one could perceive the ownership to history and felt that it can be changed. Anthropocentrism has become the main point of worldview. Side-by-side with new philosophical and theological ideas, there appeared the scientific idea of a human (Kishlansky 363). As the result, people survived the world outlook crisis that led to the revision of the view of “self”. It was put in the center of the Universe. The ideas of rationalism became the basis for modern culture and modern mind. As the result of scientific revolution and discovery of a New World a new image of the world was born. The very first expedition to the new world was reflected in the literary, political, and philosophical works of various authors. The image of the New World takes a symbolic meaning that is opposing to the Old World (Thomas More’s Utopia) (Spielvogel 420). There was an attempt to find an excuse among European public for the brutal colonial policy in the Americas. For this purpose, there was created special promotional literature, a range of tracts, and pamphlets justifying colonial conquests. Central place in the fiction and historical works about the New World was devoted to the American Natives. New understanding of man’s place in nature was carried out in the process of the constant accumulation of knowledge about the human. Anthropology was first formalized as a science of human origin (MacCormack 80). In had a strong historical reason, the Renaissance and the Age of Enlightenment shaken the authority of the church and forced to take a fresh look at the problems that were earlier solved by the religious dogma. The general public and scientists were no longer satisfied by the answers to the question of human origin proposed by the Catholic Church. They began to look for a different answer, more comparable with the empirical knowledge. In this respect, the Discovery of Americas with its unknown civilization influenced the religious thought of the time and threw a discredit on a number of facts that were unquestionable before (Kishlansky 364). Passing to the dietary and everyday habits of the Europeans, there were a number of products that became an integral part of people’s life and nutrition. Out of all pleasures brought to the European culture during the modern times, tobacco was definitely the most extraordinary. It brought entirely new forms of consumption. In comparison with tobacco, even the traditions brought by coffee and chocolate were not as revolutionary. What to do with tobacco did not have a name for a long period of time. The process of smoking was known as “drinking of smoke” or “drinking of tobacco”. The verb “to smoke” established only in the 17th century. The church was against smoking of tobacco, because it was associated with the “dry drunkenness”. The analogue with alcohol was, thus, used to find the explanation to such novelty. In the 18th century, there appeared the texts that described smoking as an important tool for mental concentration. From the 17th century, tobacco was considered as a necessary means for the brainwork. In this respect, there appeared a tradition of smoking among those who were occupied with intellectual work. In the 19th century the form of using tobacco integrated to the form of cigarette. In the long term perspective, smoking cigarettes influenced the women’s emancipation, because tobacco remained the symbol of patriarchal society. Women of the 19th century struggled for their right to smoke in public (Schivelbusch 120). All in all, smoking of tobacco set the standard to the Western civilization. Nowadays, with all its’ pluses and minuses, smoking is an essential part of peoples everyday life all over the world. Another integral element of the western culture brought from America was chocolate. It was brought to Europe by the first American pioneers. The name “chocolate” is of the ancient Mexican origin and was used to describe a product made of the cacao beans. The discovery of chocolate was of the crucial importance in the catholic countries of Europe. It was very nutritious. According to the Christian idea that liquid does not break the fast, chocolate during the fast substituted the food. In this respect, chocolate became the drink of the vital necessity in such great Catholic countries of the modern period as Spain and Italy. In the 17th century the tradition of chocolate spread to the French royal court and became an essential part of the rococo culture. The tradition of drinking chocolate (initially, chocolate was a drink) began to associate with royal idleness. In the tradition of the 18th and 19th centuries, chocolate was represented as an aristocratic drink in contrast to bourgeois coffee. Later in the 19th century, with the decline of the aristocracy and its traditions, chocolate began to be considered as children’s drink (Schivelbusch 95). Besides chocolate and tobacco, there were potatoes, tomatoes, pumpkins, and beans brought to Western Europe. The European soil and climate was very suitable for these products and they soon made a major inherent part of the European diet. To conclude with, the discovery of America had a huge impact on the European world. The legacy of this remarkable finding could not be measured in any figures or reports. In this paper, the influence of the discovery of Americas on the economical development, religious and philosophical thought, and people’s habits in the early modern period was discussed. In the economical sphere it caused the “price revolution” that slowly contributed to the establishment of the capitalist order. The new ethnicities found made the European thought to be inclined to the new vision of the human and human place in the Universe. A lot of products that Europeans today consider initially and inherently local were brought from America by the first travelers in 15th and 16th centuries. Works Cited Fischer, David Hackett. The Great Wave: Price Revolutions and the Rhythm of History. New York: Oxford University Press, 1996. Print. Kishlansky, Mark, Patrick Geary, and Patricia O’Brien. Civilization in the West. New York: Pearson Longman, 2008. Print. MacCormack, Sabine. Limits of Understanding: Perceptions of Greco-Roman and American Paganism in Early Modern Europe. America in European Consciousness: 1493-1750. Ed. Karen Kupperman. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2004. 79-130. Print. Schivelbusch, Wolfgang. Tastes of Paradise: A Social History of Spices, Stimulants, and Intoxicants. New York: Vintage Books, 1993. Print. Spielvogel, Jackson J. Western Civilization: Since 1500. Belmont: Cengage Learning, 2011. Print. Read More