Expansion of Europe

Meagan Kmieciak

Paper Assignment Two

Humanities 240D

Mr. Wilson

March 27, 2012

From the earliest of times, many countries explored lands that could help them develop and expand over time. Members from the countries in the fifteenth through the eighteenth centuries had traveled to the extent that trade routes were established and it opened up the eyes of each country and their opportunities. European nations would travel to the Americas and Africa hoping to gain land and other resources, while the Americas and Africa hoped to gain resources they could use for their own gain. Resources such as plants, foods, and animals are native to different lands around the world; over time, as cultures came into contact, it was inevitable for global interactions between Europe, the Americas, and Africa to arise. Without these cultures coming into contact, the expansion of each of these countries developments would not have happened.

Between the 1400’s and 1800’s, European mariners had a series of expensive voyages that took them to all the earth’s waters. These voyages helped them discover the world’s geography, but helped them gain something much more. European merchants established a network of communication, transportation, and interaction. The reason behind establishing these networks was to search for basic resources and lands to grow cash crops, establish trade routes, and to expand the influence of Christianity. One European voyage that took place was by Amerigo Vespucci. He traveled to the coast of Brazil and sailed as far south as the Rio de la Plata. Vespucci describes the areas in great detail the outstanding things he saw as pleasing and things he saw as out of the ordinary. When Vespucci arrived the first thing he noticed was how pleasing the land was and how “full of an infinite number of very tall trees which never lose their leaves and through the year are fragrant with the sweetest aromas and yield an endless supply of fruits, many of which are good to...