American Age Of Exploration Dbq Essay

The period of 1500-1800 was absolute domination for Europe. The expansion was not based solely on economic considerations. However, the increase in Islam and other religions played a major factor in the European Age of Exploration. The expansion of markets and merchants also played a factor into the expansion. In the beginning of the expansion, the main objective was religion. People set out to spread the word of the Lord. They felt they were to share the word of God and still try to make money. As a Spanish conquistador said “serve God and His Majesty, to give light to those who were in darkness, and to grow rich, as all men desire to do”. This statement shows that the men show interest in making a profit but their priority was to spread …show more content…
Once the churches established power, they then built hospitals, orphanages, and schools to instruct the native of America to convert to Christianity. To control the Indians, they brought the Indians to live in the villages where they were converted, taught trading, and was encouraged to grow crops all while being under the control of the church. The women in the colonies had alternate methods to marriage. They had the option to either become a nun or be married. The America was sought after to profit economically. To some of the countries, like the Spanish conquerors, America was just a region for profits. For example, an Aztec observer commented that the Spanish conquerors “longed and lusted for gold. Their bodies swelled with greed, and their hunger was ravenous; they hungered like pigs for that gold”. In the beginning colonial authorities tried to rely on human labor for their local sources. However, throughout time the population of indigenous people of America was slowly fading. The reason for their decline in population was due to diseases brought back from the Spaniards. The Spaniards brought diseases, like smallpox, measles, and typhus, which the natives had no cure