Explain the causes of European exploration and analyze the changes this caused in the Americas - Essay Example

European Explorations European Exploration The period recognized as the era of European Exploration is the period experienced during the ending years of 1400s till the starting years of 1600s and during this period, Europeans starting conducting exploration in foreign markets. These explorations were conducted for various purposes, including: attain technological advancements, spread religion and attain economic benefits and to create routes to conduct future trades. During the period recognized as the Middle Ages, Europe only had one route through which it could import from Asia and that route had a lot of troubles in the shape of unhealthy weather and attacks by the bandits.

Due to this, Europeans wanted to figure out alternative routes in order to decrease their cost of travelling and this led to the creation of a route to Asia which passed through the horn of Africa. Before the period of Exploration, the wealth of Europeans had declined as a result of wars and in order to obtain more wealth, Europeans started exploring other nations in search of commodity such as gold and goods to trade. Exploration conducted by Europeans even led to the development of technology used for sailing, this purpose led to the development of Portuguese caravel which assisted the Europeans to travel to the middle regions of the sea.

One of the main aims of the European explorers was to spread the religion of Christianity in different regions such as Asia. The Europeans of that era were highly influenced by the Roman Catholic Church and they were indulged in spreading Christianity under this church. Exploration had a series of negative and positive impacts on the Americans. The most negative impact was the death of huge number of natives as result of diseases that transferred from the Europeans to the Americans and the wars that took place between the two societies and due to enslavement of the Americans.

Christopher Columbus was the one who enslaved over 250,000 Arawaks and only a total of 500 of the enslaved ones lived alive by the period of 1550. During the 15th century, horses were imported into Americas and a huge number of these horses escaped into the wild regions where they increased in number due to reproduction and soon horses became a mode of transportation for the Northern American tribes and this travel instrument helped them in trading goods and services with other tribes. The diseases that came along with the Europeans and badly impacted the people of Americas were measles and chicken pox and these diseases proved to be deadly for the natives (Goldfield, 2011, p.353). It is very difficult to figure out the exact death toll of the natives due to these diseases, but certain historians state that 80% of natives lost their lives due to these diseases.

The exploration even led to the creation of various routes of trade between the Americas and other regions and these routes were first exploited by the Europeans and later exploited by the natives to gain economic success and increase trade with other nations. ReferencesGoldfield, David R.. The American journey: a history of the United States. 6th ed. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Pearson Education, 2011. Print.