Cause I: All water route to Asia
Europeans got a taste of spices that traveled through the silk road. However the Turks cut off the trade route artery during the crusades. Therefore the Europeans now had no access to the precious spices. They needed to find a new route to their beloved spices. With the growing belief that the earth is round, Spain decided to test that theory and funded Columbus' journey to pioneer an all water route to Asia.
Effect I: Europeans discover Americas
After Columbus got funded by the royalty of Spain To find an all water route to Asia, he stumbled upon the Americas and believes it to be India. This was a big deal because not only was he the first European on the Americas, but he was also the First European to meet and discover the natives. The discovery of the natives and of the Americas was only the beginning of the effects of exploration.
Cause II: Curiosity
Curiosity drove the Europeans. The Europeans had discovered this new aspect of life, a new knowledge which they never knew of before, Curiosity. Before they only could go off of what the word going around at the time and what they could see. Then exploration came along. They fed off of this new idea and discovered they could know for themselves what was true. Curiosity gave the Europeans a new drive. And curiosity still drives us today.
Effect II: Spread of Slavery
With the learning of new worlds, Slavery and slave trade grew in epic proportions. The new, native people were taken advantage of and were made slaves to work their own land. The land they grew with, the land of their fathers. Then the Europeans came and they took it all away and ruined entire peoples, entire cultures all in the name of exploration. As the growing, evolving world became a world of the fittest of all, not your area.
Cause III: Effort to spread religion
In this era, religion was the driving force. Everyone had a religion and everyone believed in God. In Europe at least. It wasn't so in the Americas. They had their own beliefs. The Europeans wanted everyone to believe in the same. This caused exploration because the Europeans had just learned of this new people who are said to be very excited to worship this new god. As this was right after the crusades, the people believed spreading the word of god was the best way to have your sins be forgiven. Thus causing a great wave of religion being forced upon slaves and native people with their own beliefs.
Effect III: Expand of disease
With new people and landscapes came new diseases. Exploration had introduced new people to new diseases and diseases to new people. For example, the black plague was introduced to large populations of Americans. They had not built up an immune to them as they had not been exposed to the disease. This cause widespread death and destruction. This was one of the unknown risks of exploring. Some of the effects may have been better to be found out after the the big catastrophes had happened.
Work Cited
https://www.reference.com/history/did-european-nations-seek-sea-route-asia-f3985a1829da8f9b
https://highered.mheducation.com/sites/dl/free/0809222299/45391/USHistory.html
http://www.csun.edu/~vcpsy00h/students/curious.htm
https://15minutehistory.org/2012/12/03/episode-6-effects-of-the-atlantic-slave-trade-on-the-americas/
http://www.history.com/topics/exploration/exploration-of-north-america
http://aida.wss.yale.edu/~nq3/NANCYS_Yale_Website/resources/papers/NunnQianJEP.pdf
Credits:
Created with images by markusspiske - "globe africa europe" • chrisf608 - "atlantic ocean" • NASA Goddard Photo and Video - "Blue Marble 2000" • NICHD NIH - "Neural pathways in the brain" • KlausHausmann - "hands handcuffs tied up" • geralt - "cross sunset sunrise" • IMLS DCC - "Gardelegen, Germany *Warning Graphic Content*"