Columbian Exchange Dbq Analysis

The first Europeans set out to explore the Western Hemisphere were searching for alternate water routes to Asia in order to get goods such as: spices, silks, gold, porcelain,etc. Though many explorers did not reach this goal, their journeys led to the discovery of new land in the Americas. Once the New World was founded, explorers continued to venture out and find more land. Explorations brought new products to the New World to trade with Europe, but the Columbian exchange didn’t always have the best impact, like the way it negatively affected the Native American’s way of life. The New World attracted missionaries wishing to spread their religion. Document 4 states that along with the conquistadors, missionaries came set to influence their catholicism on natives. Buildings called missions were set up and used for bribery by only letting those who have converted to use it as a shelter through the harsh weathers. The missionaries used the foul tactics because they felt as though it was their duty, as told by the King and Pope, to save the non-religious people. In the eyes of the Pope, they were less than human and it was up to the missionaries to change that. Unfortunately, the Europeans brought over many diseases to the New World, a major one being smallpox. Many Natives began to catch the virus but
refused to accept treatment from the Europeans due to their own religious beliefs. This resulted in a massive loss of the Native population, even tribes as a whole were wiped out. Gold was the main motivator for almost all explorers.
They all wanted to be successful and wealthy and hold a high, dominant position in the social ladder. Gold was being exported, imported and found all throughout the New World. The New World had an amount of gold that drew travelers in like magnets and really encouraged new settlers. There was such an abundance of gold it slowly began to lose it value, issues like this is one of the many reasons the spanish economy collapsed. Although it might have negatively impacted various places around the world, gold acted as a huge profit in the art of trading and gained countries things like spices and other
necessities.
Glory was a special aspect to most explorers due to the printing press, allowing people to be praised more widely, like in document 2 where it states how quickly word of Ribaut’s voyage spread. Explorers like de Leon, in search for the fountain of youth, or Coronado, in search for the Cities of Cibola, were really in search for the fame their discovery would have brought them. Although many failed at their goal, they would end up finding undiscovered land, earning some form of recognition. When explorers founded the land that they did they would earn gold for their good work, which was another key factor to their motivation. It was common for explorers and their crew to steal from the natives of said land so, along with the fame, and money they would get, they would reward themselves.