Transcript
America Before Columbus:
In Europe the nobles have grown wealthy by traded with the east, spices and gold, gemstones, and silk are the most lucrative goods. But foreign trading was in decline as the Europeans lost the silk road to the turks. The wealth of kings was in danger and Isabella the Queen of Spain was desperate to find new routes to India. Isabella was the most powerful woman in Europe, where they had built various castles and trading centers. At this time rivalry was intense in Europe, Kings and popes had raised up armies to fight against one another and their enemies, on Europe's borders. There was not another place where rivalries were so intense, gold fever had take many, religious fervor and business excellence so strictly held, than in Europe. Ideas and curiosity begin to give birth to a thirst for power and pushes Europe to it’s tipping point. Europe was also a population of millions and trying to feed a people of so many was a definite priority. The natural resources had already been exploited as land became scarce and overworked. Most of the farmers were peasants working land that belonged to someone else, either the nobles or the the church. All of these various elements play a important role in new world exploration. The Queen was desperate to keep her riches, the men of war had a thirst for power, people had fallen to gold fever, and just the idea of exploration of a new world presented many possible answers and outcomes. Not to mention if you were a peasant this was an opportunity to become something more and discover a new way of life.
When the europeans came to the new world they encountered many different agricultural elements such as potatoes, tomatoes, sugar, and an abundance of trees which they used in large quantities for fuel, fire, and structures. They also encountered tribes of people and whole villages of civilization. They europeans brought horses to the new world and this benefited the people with transportation but they also brought pigs which made for a great meal but ate many premature crops and created a otherwise unknown oppsticle for the people of the land. They had also brought diseases to the new land and also taken back diseases that killed many on the new world side and also greatly affected the european people with syphilis. So when the europeans came back the land was almost as it seemed wiped clean of all inhabitants. At this point many more people even woman traveled to the new world and brought cattle and grains and began to really shape a new life. This was a point of new beginning for a “new world”, but there was little change in Europe.
