Chapter 2 of this book provides a new perspective on various expeditions done by Europeans sailors to new lands. It reveals a lot of information about the activities of the sailors and the consequences of their expeditions. They were able to reach territories which had not been occupied by European settlers before; those lands were abundant in treasures.
This chapter also outlines the way how some territories became colonies of the European states because of their rich resources, favorable climate, and strategic locations.
The sailors who visited these territories for the first time prepared them for colonial administration by European countries which wanted to extend their imperial powers (Davidson 53). This chapter also reveals the impact of sailors and explorers and how their actions led to the exploitation of resources and the establishment of colonial administration in these territories.
This chapter also underlines the impact of expeditions on native population living in territories which later became colonies of various European states. Some of these explorers were praised in their home countries for having discovered these lands, yet they committed many ills against native people living there.
The chapter focuses on the actions of these explorers and how they harmed the lives of native people, living in the territories which they discovered. For example, chapter 2 highlights Christopher Columbus’ role in subjecting native people in America to servitude and other forms of suffering.
This chapter emphasizes the fact that Columbus’ actions were motivated by his insatiable greed for gold and other treasures but not the patriotism he had for his country. This chapter provides more information about how Columbus is respected in North America and Europe, yet his actions and those of other explorers were not placed under serious scrutiny (Davidson 56).
The chapter shows a critical period in history when expeditions by European sailors led to the expansion of geographical knowledge about other parts of the world. It also shows the growing influence and power of the European countries and the way it pushed them to seek foreign territories which they could conquer.
As a result, many Europeans began migrating to these new territories to take advantage of arable land, favorable climate and other treasures to increase their wealth (Davidson 59). This chapter also highlights how European states after the Middle Ages opened up other territories in the world for exploitation to increase their wealth.
Several European countries faced a lot of economic and social challenges in the Middle Ages, which motivated some of their citizens to travel to other territories to explore them. In the past, sailors from Asia and the Middle East sold products to Europeans who were not keen on traveling to other foreign territories which had different cultural systems of their own.
The previous chapter discusses the high civilization in America before Columbus, and other European explorers arrived (Davidson 62). This chapter shows how changes that were witnessed in Europe after the Middle Ages encouraged some Europeans to explore other parts of the world. This would later lead to the scrambling for new lands by European states in a quest to strengthen their imperial powers.
The key element to be considered in this period is the rise of European states from the Middle Ages and how this shaped their national interests. Western sailors discovered new sea routes to Asia, Africa, and the Americas which helped them access new territories easily.
These new sea routes provided the European countries with direct paths to conquer other foreign territories which were placed under the colonial administration of different European countries (Davidson 65). This made many European states more powerful and influential globally.
The most important people during that time were sailors, merchants, explorers or native population. Sailors and explorers were motivated by various interests to go out of their countries for long voyages to distant lands. They encountered people who observed new cultures and practiced ways of life, which are different from what they were accustomed to in their own countries.
The native population in the America, Asia, and Africa had to face reality consisting of the fact that these European visitors were only interested in extracting resources from their territories. European settlers brought new languages, forms of education and religious practices with them which until that time were foreign in these lands (Davidson 67).
The period covered in this chapter shows a period when many European states were competing with each other to establish their authority across the world. They intended to spread their spheres of influence into other areas with a lot of treasures and natural resources which they sought to exploit to strengthen their own economies (Davidson 72).
In the beginning, there was an increase in the number of voyages made by Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch and later, English explorers to different parts of the world in search of treasure and wealth. In the end, these conquests made European states more powerful in the whole world.
The period represents an era when many territories in the world were opened up as a result of different expeditions by European explorers. This period was characterized by a growing competition for resources by the European states which wanted to be more powerful and prosperous.
Some European states during this period were driven by their own imperialistic interests which made them partition several territories in different parts of the world using maps (Davidson 74). Some of these explorers were recognized for their discovery of these lands which made them respected and honored in their own countries.
The authors reveal a critical time in the world history when the European states became more interested in extending their power over other territories in the world to expand their economic abilities. These states rushed to partition several territories in different parts of the globe to enable them to exploit resources which those lands were rich in.
The chapter has also underlined the fact that sailors and explorers prepared territories they went to for expeditions for colonial activities, which in the end made the European states wealthier and more powerful than other nations in the whole world (Davidson 76).
The chapter takes an unfavorable opinion of European colonial activities in America, Africa, Asia, and Australia. The authors argue that many of the local populations in these areas were subjected to a lot of suffering soon after Europeans had established their authority in these territories.
Some modern historians in Europe and North America have a different opinion in regards to Christopher Columbus and other explorers for their discovery of new territories in the America and Australia since they argue that colonialism helped to discover different territories in the world which led to European civilization to take its root (Davidson 78).
Works Cited
Davidson, James West. US: A Narrative History, Volume 1: To 1865. New York: McGraw Hill, 2012. Print.