PART I: Writing short essays
a) Bering Strait
Bering Strait is a bridge located to the south of the Arctic Circle (Oliver, 2006). The bridge is important to the history of American Indians. It is said that the ancestors of the American Indians migrated across the land surrounding the bridge from Asia to America. However, this claim has been contradicted due to a number of reasons.
One reason is that the traditional religion of the American Indians gives a different story. Many religions tend to contradict what is recorded in history books (Oliver, 2006). The American Indians feel that they are being disregarded when people claim that they are not native occupants of the land, but that they migrated through the bridge into the American land. This bridge is therefore used to explain a major historical event of how the American Indians came to be existent in America (Oliver, 2006).
The above picture shows the connection of the bridge, the sea itself to other parts of the world. This shows the possibility of the migration from Asia to America.
b) Prince Henry the Navigator
Prince Henry the Navigator was the son of King Joau of the land of Portugal (Gallagher, 2003). The prince is well remembered for his expeditions which he sent to Africa. One notable thing is that he never went for the expeditions himself, but only sent his people with the ship to go and make discoveries.
Out of the voyages that the Prince sent to Africa, West Africa in particular, the men sent were able to come up with maps of all areas that they went to (Gallagher, 2003). Besides, Prince Henry was able to discover many places that have become vital elements of History. One such place is the Island of Porto Santo and later Madeira. Besides the discoveries, Prince Henry was able to set up a training center of navigation and ship building. For all the discoveries, the Prince is still remembered to date. The picture shows the Prince in his official dress code depicting his status.
c) Columbian Exchange
Between 1492 and 1992, many entrants from Columbia are said to have entered the American land (Crosby, 2003) . They were received with a lot of hostility from the Native Americans occupants but this did not deter their movement. In 1992, there was an international celebration that was organized to mark the anniversary of ”Quicentennial of Colombus’ Voyage” (Crosby, 2003). The event was obviously not well taken by the native American and leaders from many parts of the world met to try and come up with ways to bring an appreciation and celebration attitude in everyone.
The picture shows the arrival of the Columbus in the Caribbean, an arrival that resulted to the Columbian Exchanges.
PART II: Essay Writing
Europeans: Explain some of the changes going on in Europe that could have led to exploration and colonization. Explore the colonization policies of at least two European countries before 1600. What challenges did they face?
One change experienced in Europe is that the Portuguese sailors learnt how to sail by taking advantage of the winds and currents experienced in the Atlantic Ocean (Pate and Napoli, 2007). The sailors were therefore able to establish trading stations along the oceans and could move from station to station trading goods. In the areas where they created trading stations, the Portuguese tried to create colonies there. They explored deeper into these areas in search of trade items such as gold and Christian alliances to help them in their conquest attempts (Pate and Napoli, 2007).
The Portuguese started their exploration but had to find a way to fight their rivals who were majorly the Turks (Young, 2008). The Portuguese were able to convince people to be their allies by using the Christian faith. They made the people and especially the Africans to believe that they were living in the final days and that they had to achieve much before Christ returned. With these, they were able to conquer many regions especially in Africa.
More changes were experienced in India when da Gama defeated the Arabs. Indian leaders set up naval bases that were supposed to control access to the Spice Islands (Young, 2008). The Portuguese took up the new trading item and became successful exporters of commodity back to Europe. For these, the Portuguese became the pioneers of trade in Europe, something that made it possible for them to expand their colonial territories.
The European countries had set targets and certain policies that guided them through their efforts to create colonies (Kozlowski and Weber, 2010). One is that they had to create colonies in regions that were rich in trading items such as gold. A country like Portugal wanted to have a region from which they would acquire gold cheaply and then go sell it back at home at maximum profits. This resulted to the colonial powers being extremely rich and they therefore set aside most of their resources in staging out conquest wars with their rivals.
Another policy was to expand their territories as much as possible. They believed that the larger their colonies were, the more powerful they became (Kozlowski and Weber, 2010). With extensive colonial provinces, the colonial powers would be able to conquer even more regions since it meant that they had the resources to do so.
The colonizing powers faced a number of challenges in their quest to explore and create colonies. One challenge is that they did not know where they were if they got of sight. This was made worse by the fact that the maps that were available then were not as good and any reliable (Kozlowski and Weber, 2010).
A picture of the colonizers.
Works Cited
CROSBY, A. W. 2003. The Columbian exchange: biological and cultural consequences of 1492, Westport, Praeger.
GALLAGHER, A. 2003. Prince Henry the Navigator: Pioneer of Modern Exploration, New York, Rosen Pub. Group.
KOZLOWSKI, D. J. & WEBER, J. L. 2010. Colonialism, New York, Chelsea House.
OLIVER, J. A. 2006. The Bering Strait Crossing, New York, Information Architects.
PATE, S. & NAPOLI, T. 2007. CliffsTestPrep CSET: Social Science, London, John Wiley & Sons.
YOUNG, E. G. 2008. American History for Everyone, Indiana, Xlibris Corporation.
