Christopher Columbus's First Discovery

The world was forever changed when an Italian explorer named Christopher Columbus discovered the New World in 1492. This discovery caught the attention of the Western European leaders. Soon, these leaders prompted their own explorers to start their own expeditions. Although we can consider Columbus’s first discovery of the New World as an “encounter”, we cannot apply this term to the later discoveries because the word “conquer” would be more fitting. The Native Americans and Africans had varied responses to European colonization. The term “encounter” is only appropriate for Columbus’s first discovery. At the time, Europeans did not know of any direct sea routes which would lead to Southern Asia. In addition, the route via Egypt and the Red Sea was closed to Europeans by the Ottoman Empire. Determined, Columbus set sail to reach the East Indies (with the fabled gold and spice islands) westward. Columbus, however, underestimated the world’s size and arrived in a foreign land called San Salvador. As a result, Columbus encountered San Salvador and its native people since his finding was completely unpredicted.
Columbus basically initiated the genocide of the Hispaniola natives who were susceptible to European diseases such as smallpox and measles. Hernan Cortez and his small army conquered the Aztec Empire using advanced technology. The conquistadors used steel swords and armor compared to the wooden clubs and cotton armor of the Aztecs. Francisco Pizarro used similar tactics to conquer Peru. Europeans were motivated to conquer the land and the peoples of North America because the Europeans could easily exploit the Native Americans to do things such as work in the gold and silver mines to boost the European countries’ political and economic