Reconnaissance, Discovery, and Expansion, Oh My!

Tonight's blog post is brought to you by...

CONFUSION.

I don't know if it was just me, but the main idea of today's discussion today was a bit hard to follow, so bear with me in this post.

me sitting in class (but basically me all the time)

Let's get this party started, shall we?

get turnt

"Was Christopher Columbus a great man or the greatest man?" - YarnBarn

"Ummm....neither." - everyone

Apparently, that's the wrong answer.

Since great doesn't necessarily mean moral, and we all know that Columbus was not a particularly moral man considering his treatment of the native inhabitants of the land he discovered, one can say that Columbus was great in his discovery, successful expansion, and the resulting "Columbian exchange" between the Old World and the New World.

This exchange included domesticated animals, raw materials, crops, and diseases.  Diseases had a significant impact on the Native American population, which was largely affected by smallpox, measles, and syphilis.

thanks a lot, Columbus

This exchange also led to mercantilism in the New World, which was based upon the ideas of paternalism and a favorable balance of trade.  This meant that exports of the New World were higher than imports (the Americas exported more to Europe than they were buying back in imports).  The Europeans believed that you had to take wealth from other people and domestic territories to gain your own wealth.  How rude.

now Europe had resources and materials coming in from the Americas and a market to sell their goods back to, so
Beyonce = Europe

The reconnaissance, discovery, and expansion that Columbus was so involved in (in that order) had several causes and motives surrounding them.  Sorry to burst Emilia's bubble, but according to the almighty and infallible textbook, religious differences and religious wars were not the main reason for expansion and exploration.

mmmmhmmmm

Religion was considered an excuse, but not the true motive.  Instead, the true motive was quest for material profit, cloaked under the guise of religion.  This material interest was accompanied by intellectual curiosity and technological advances, all stemming from the Renaissance.

Alright, here's where things get a little unclear for me (what else is new).  Let's see how this explanation turns out.

In general, Europe interacted with the Americas differently compared to how it interacted with Africa and Asia.  Initially, Europeans treated the people in Africa and Asia like they were developed civilizations, which is not how they treated the people in the Americas.  They didn't think the Native Americans were civilized people, and those states and peoples in Africa were already well-established as legitimate trading partners in their eyes (traded gold, slaves, etc.).  One might say that the Europeans treated the African civilizations nicely in order to maintain their trading relationship.  As time went on and exploration reached the Americas, the Europeans still used Africa for trade and for stops on the way to the Indies.  The interaction between these two continents never really went past the coast, and Europe didn't have a desire to take over these African ports and other places, but European respect and consideration for the African states were beginning to waver as populations decreased from excessive slave trade to the Americas.  On the other side of the world, Europe considered the American inhabitants to be uncivilized, lost souls who weren't good for much and needed the guidance of Europe and God in their lives.

How was that?  Probably wrong.  Feel free to send me any additional correct notes to add to this post.

how I feel after finishing this post
also, I really want a corgi
that is all.