Europeans coming to America DBQ

In the 14th century the Europeans set out to find an all water route to Asia to trade and get spices, silks, gold, porcelain, and other riches. Little did they no they ended up being the first Europeans to explore the New World. Once the New World was discovered, more and more explorers continued to venture out to this New World. The European explorers kept on coming back to the New World for wealth, an increased amount of power in Europe, to spread the Christian religion, and many more. The arrival of the Europeans impacted the lives of Native Americans in negative ways, the natives died from disease the Europeans brought, were turned into slaves, and had to assimilate to new land. Although there were many negative effects of their arrival there were positive impacts as well such as the exchange of resources. The Europeans changed the Native American ways of life forever. One of the reasons the Europeans came to the new World was to acquire gold. Nicolas Le Challeux who sailed from France in 1565 stated this country was rich in gold (Document 2). Due to the fact that gold was the primary goal to conquistadors, Pizarro and Cortes came to the New World in order to conquer gold filled land. Pizarro and Cortes specifically went to the Aztec and Inca empires because the temples were made of gold. According to the graph entitled, Exports of Gold and Silver from the New World to Spain, it was very clear that within these years, 1576-1580, much gold was exported from the New World to Spain (Document 3). This is because Pizarro and Cortes conquered the Aztec and Inca empires and took gold. Gold was a big reason for the European Explores to come to the New World.