The expansion of European power and influence in the global economy in the early
16th century occurred through the cataclysmic events of European exploration. The
exploration and conquests conducted primarily by the Spanish and Portuguese were
motivated by a variety of factors. Motives for the Age of Exploration, simply stated, were
glory, gold, and God. That is, conquerors ventured to the New World as service for their
country, with the hopes of gaining personal power or wealth, and to spread
Christianity—primarily Catholicism—to the sullen, pagan peoples of the Americas. The
tumultuous events of the Age of Exploration also brought about new attitudes and opinions
of Europeans and Natives. Most Europeans viewed Natives as simple, ignorant people to
be exploited for religious conversion and economic gain. They also viewed Natives as
hostile, barbaric peoples because of their violence towards conquerors. Natives feared,
and were thusly hostile towards European explorers. Another attitude that developed later
in the period was that of empathy for the brutal mistreatment of Natives through
enslavement and exploitation. The consequences of the European­Amerindian
interactions during the Age of Exploration also proved to be most tumultuous, as the New
World population drastically decreased from Old World disease, the Amerindians became
enslaved, and the New World resources were exploited by the conquerors. The Age of
Exploration, through its motives, attitudes, and consequences, marked Europe’s
cataclysmic emergence as a dominant world power.
A very important aspect of the Age of Exploration was the question of why the
Europeans came. A variety of factors drove Europeans to explore and conquer the New
World, and these can be shown and explained through letters, documentary writings, and
paintings of the period. Many were driven to the Americas through their quest for glory;
conquering lands for personal accomplishment and for their home country. Others came in
the name of God, hoping to spread their religious belief and doctrine. The motive for
gaining commercial wealth, through the exploitation of New World resources also
encouraged exploration. Ferdinand and Isabella, King and Queen of Spain, motivated
Columbus to further explore the New World he had discovered, encouraging his success
through promise to give him personal glory and power over the lands he conquered. This
proves the motivation of personal achievement through attainment of power. However,
there were other motives for the Catholic rulers of Spain to encourage exploration. Their
motives were undoubtedly also driven by their want to earn wealth for Spain, but also
foremost to spread Catholicism. The King and Queen are most likely exaggerating their
desires for Columbus to succeed and the reward and recognition he would receive. While
it appears that the royal crown desire for Columbus to be successful, they have the hidden
biased motives of wanting this victory in exploration for its own benefit and glory. (Doc 1)
This idea is also supported in the painting The Landing of Columbus at the Island of
Guanahani which portrays Columbus holding the Spanish flag upon arrival to the West
Indies, claiming this land for the King and Queen of Spain. This painting depicts the
explorers with crosses and flags, showing the viewer exactly what they came to this new
land for. (Doc 10) While some were conquering new lands for their country, others also
came in the hopes of building a better future for themselves. A life in the New World would
also be a new beginning; criminals could now attempt to make a new start for themselves
and others could work to move upward in the hierarchical system of life. (Doc 3) The
religious motive to convert the Natives to Catholicism was very strong with Spanish
explorers and the Catholic Church. On her deathbed, Queen Isabella discussed her desire
to fulfill the Spanish Crown’s promise to the Pope to bring the light of Catholicism to the
pagan Natives in the dark. Religion was one important factor that influenced Ferdinand
and Isabella to promote exploration. (Doc 4) Pope Paul III also expressed his desire to
bring Catholicism to the New World. He argued that Natives not only could comprehend
the Catholic faith, but also wanted to participate in it. He defended the passionate
religious inspiration the Spanish held for conquering Amerindians. His bias in his writing is
undeniable. As the leader of the Catholic Church and thus its greatest advocate; it would
be expected that the Pope would insert his bias towards Catholicism in his thought on
conversion of Amerindians. The Pope wanted Amerindians to become Catholic, and so
he reasoned that they could and wanted to do so. (Doc 7) Another crucial motive for
European exploration was the prospect of gaining wealth. The New World was abundant in
resources that Europeans needed to participate in the global economy. Among the most
important of these were gold and the inhabitants of the Americas. The Amerindians
themselves proved to be a valuable source of slave labor. Columbus, as described in his
writing of his first interactions with Amerindians, formed a relationship with the Natives so
that acquiring their resources was easy. He didn’t take advantage of their generosity, but
instead founded a friendly relationship so that the Amerindians would be willing to
participate in a relationship with the Spanish, in which they worked to give the Spanish the
resources they held in abundance, but which Europeans held high demand for. Through
using Amerindian slave labor for agriculture and mining, the Spanish showed their
undeniable interest in exploiting the New World for its riches. (Doc 2)
The attitudes of both Europeans and Natives during the Age of Exploration differed
greatly. Natives viewed the European conquerors as a threat to fear and rebel against.
While Europeans overwhelmingly saw the Natives as an uneducated people that could be
used as a resource to be exploited. However, empathy for the brutalized Natives eventually
gained support as a popular attitude. Christopher Columbus first noticed the Natives’
ignorance when they traded valuable items for shards of glass and other meaningless
items. Seeing the Natives as naïve, he also assumed they could be easily converted to
Catholicism. Columbus thus treated the Natives with kindness at first, so as to easily
accomplish his objectives of obtaining the Natives’ New World resources and converting
them to Catholicism. (Doc 2) Pope Paul III also wanted to accomplish the goal of religious
conversion—not only did he believe that the Natives were able to become Catholic; he also
believed it was their will to do so. (Doc 7) The Natives also appeared to be violent
savages who attacked Europeans without reason or restraint. This comes from the
Natives’ attitudes about the conquering Europeans. Natives had reactions of both violence
and fear. In Magellan’s voyage around the World, Amerindians are depicted as
barbarians, brutally killing the captain of the ship. As a member of Magellan’s crew, the
source, Antonio Pigafetta, was biased because he sought to make Magellan appear the
victim, and the natives as savages who attacked without provocation. Therefore, the bias of
Pigafetta proves it an unreliable account, as he exaggerated the violence of the fight. In
doing this, he cast the natives in a negative light, further enticing the Europeans to believe
their tales of barbarians. (Doc 6) Another emerging attitude about the European Age of
Exploration was the empathy for Natives; attitudes condemning their brutal treatment.
Pope Paul III was so moved by complaints of brutality towards Natives that he addressed
the issue in a papal bull in 1537, Ipsa Veritas, officially declaring that Amerindians’ rights to
property and liberty shouldn’t be infringed upon. (Doc 9) A similar executive order
concerning Natives’ rights was released by King Charles I of Spain in 1542. This feeling of
recognition of Amerindians’ rights clearly grew support, but well after the first conquests
beginning with Columbus’s discovery in 1492. Another excellent example of this attitude
about the Age of Exploration comes from historian and former conquistador Bartolome de
Las Casas. His account in Historia de las Indias tells of the horrible cruelty exerted by the
Spanish on the Amerindians in their quest for economic and religious achievement. (Doc
8)
The varying consequences of the Age of Exploration ultimately propelled Europe
into its position of world dominance. The impact of Old World disease on Amerindians
weakened their population, which contributed to European dominance in the violence that
broke out between explorers and Natives, yet another consequence. What ultimately
allowed Europe to enter the global economy with strength was the exploitation of New
World resources for trade. The foremost largest consequence of the linking of the Old and
New Worlds occurred from the diseases European explorers brought with them. The
diseases Europeans brought weren’t extremely deadly in the Old World due to a natural
biological resistance. However, the diseases were overwhelmingly fatal for Amerindians
who didn’t have biological immunity. Many diseases were transferred to the Americas, the
direst of which were typhus, influenza, and smallpox. These diseases had drastic
consequences; they resulted in widespread terminal illness, death, and population
decrease. Fray Bernardino de Sahagun depicted the unbearable pain and suffering of the
Aztec Amerindians from smallpox during Spanish conquistador Hernando Cortes’s
invasion. (Doc 5) Violence between Natives and Europeans was another consequence of
the discovery of the New World. Natives feared and opposed the arrival of European
explorers on their land; retaliation and violent aggression was inevitable. In Antonio
Pigafetta’s historical account, Magellan’s Voyage Around the World, he describes his
personal encounter with “enemy Natives”, in which the confrontation resulted in the death of
Ferdinand Magellan, the leader of the expedition to circumnavigate the globe. (Doc 6)
Bartolome de Las Casas’s accounts of the Spanish conquest of the Americas argues that
Catholic Spanish explorers were motivated by greed, and thusly held no remorse or
empathy for their cruel treatment and enslavement of Amerindians. This is another
example of the consequence of violence between Natives and explorers. The validity of
Las Casas’s account is, however, questionable. Although Las Casas was a former
conquistador, he eventually became a pious social reformer known as the “Protector of the
Indians” for his undoubtedly bias opinions of empathy for Natives and outrage at abusive
conquerors. Las Casas’s view of outrage at the unnecessary slaughter of submissive
Natives depicts the Spaniards as ruthless. His accounts, although first­hand, are not totally
reliable. (Doc 8) Another vital consequence of the Age of Exploration in bringing about
Europe’s rise to power was the exploitation of New World resources by Europeans for
economic benefit. Upon his first interactions with Amerindians, Columbus introduced the
exchange of goods. Due to the Amerindians not knowing the true value of some of the
articles carried upon Columbus’ voyage, they bartered with no experience and common
objects such as bows, glasses, and jars in return for valuable resources such as cotton and
gold. Columbus claimed to halt this type of trade because he felt it was unjust. However,
Columbus was clearly biased in this statement, as it hid his true motives and enhanced his
reputation. He conducted fair and friendly trade with the first Natives he met to set up a
“healthy” relationship, in which the Natives would cooperate with the Spanish and help them
obtain the much­desired valuable goods of Europe which were in abundance in the
Americas. (Doc 2)
European exploration in the New World facilitated the growth of European power
and influence across the globe. The Spanish and Portuguese came to the New World with
various motives; in hopes of achieving glory, amassing wealth, and spreading
Catholicism. The attitudes of Europeans and Natives in the period were also diverging.
Europeans viewed Natives as inferior peoples; most explorers exploited them for religious
conversion and economic gain. Natives in turn viewed European explorers as a threat to
their homes and way of life. Empathetic Europeans saw the Amerindians as equals and
hoped to better the treatment of the Natives of the New World. The consequences of the
European Age of Exploration were most tumultuous. The consequences of disease led to
a drastic decrease in Amerindian population. Mistreatment of the Native peoples and
exploitation of New World resources were also major consequences. These motives,
attitudes, and consequences of the Age of Exploration of the New World marked the rise of
power and influence of the European nations in the world.