The Age of Exploration

Impact of Exploration During the time of exploration, many explorers made voyages that changed world history. They discovered new land, food, and people. There were both positive and negative impacts of exploration. The age of exploration was very good for our culture as a whole. Explorers set out to find new trade routes to Asia, fame, wealth, and knowledge, but they discovered so much more than that. They impacted our world more than they thought could ever be possible. Religion spread, new technology came about, maps improved, and of course, new trade routes were found. Exploration and trade contributed to the growth of capitalism. This economic system is based on investing money for profit. Merchants gained a lot of wealth by trading and selling goods from around the world. Although exploration impacted our world in a positive way, it also impacted in a negative way. Many deaths occurred during this time period because of various reasons. Explorers could only pack so much food and water onto ships for their voyages and sometimes it just wasn’t enough to keep the crew alive for the journey. Even if the explorers reached their destination, sometimes fights would happen with natives of the land. Exploration also caused slavery. African slave trade began with Europe, Africa, and South America. Europeans captured the African people and traded them to South America for their goods. When the slaves reached the America’s, they worked on tobacco and sugar plantations. Therefore, exploration also impacted the world in a negative way. Exploration had many long term effects, including slavery. Slavery began in the 1600’s and lasted until the 1900’s. To this day, we continue to have racism all around us. Another long term consequence is the spread of religion. There are millions of different religions throughout the world. Without exploration, the spread of religions would not have happened as early as it did. Other long term effects were language and