Early European Explorers essays

Early European Explorers essays During the 15th and 16th centuries around the world, the lure of economic opportunity, heroism, and adventure tempted explorers from Europe to travel hundreds of miles to explore the worlds that existed outside their own. What they discovered upon arriving at their destinations, was that these new lands, rich in natural resources, were already inhabited by people who had been living there for hundreds of years. The interactions that ensued between the European explorers and native peoples led to an abundance of trade between the Old and New worlds and increased horizons for people witnessing new cultures for the first time. For the most part, however, this interaction gave rise to warfare, slavery, and exploitation largely due to newfound perceptions about the people and their culture that went both ways; Europeans and indigenous peoples alike made assumptions about the other. These misconceptions shaped the way they regarded these new people they were in contact with as well. When Europeans treks led them to Africa, the Americas, and Japan, they were quick to judge what they saw, given their own backgrounds and range of knowledge. Their limited experiences caused them to make misguided opinions of the people they found. Among the visitors to Africa was a Portuguese explorer named Joao Baptista Lavanha, who described the Africans he met as barbarians (DOC 1) who are very brutish and worship nothing. (DOC 1) The few things he learned about the religious practices of the people in what he called Kaffraria were cast aside. Another Portuguese explorer found the eating habits of the people of Guinea and Benin as haphazard. (DOC 2) Christopher Columbus described the people he found in America to be a very poor people (DOC 4) when he arrived there in 1492. Amerigo Vespucci also took note of the eating habits of indigenous Americans, as well as a tradition of eating the flesh of their ...