Christopher Columbus "Discovers" America

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Mr. Schwenk Honors Western Civilization (7) 10 January 2010 Christopher Columbus "Discovers" America Over the course of human existence, every instance has an impact on what happens next. This is as true as ever during times such as the Renaissance, more specifically, the Age of Exploration. Discoveries, comedies, and tragedies that occurred due to discovering new worlds are still with us today just as much as they affected the people and cultures living in that time period. While today, we may see most of these impacts as good, back then, there seemed to be an overall negative outlook. While many instances such as mistreating humans and taking over and killing cultures were by no means acceptable, let alone positive, during this same time, explorers were risking their lives for their country and their own glory, all in an attempt to find new routes. As it turns out, they ended up finding whole new land masses. One of the biggest issues to come out of the Age of Exploration and the new-found trade routes was the development of the Slave Trade. While there was slavery in some areas previous to the Slave Trade, this was the first time that mass amounts of slaves were being taken from their homes, shipped across the ocean like cargo, and sold, being neglected as people and looked at as if they were merchandise. One of the most prominent sources for slaves was Africa. In Africa, slaves would be taken to port cities and thrown into the cargo of ships headed across to the New World and Europe. Due to the fact that no trader cared for these humans as people, they were packed into the cargo of ships, trying to fit in as many as possible. Of course, seeing as the ships had trips that were usually over a month across to the New World, the poorly-treated slaves would end up foul smelling, filthy, ill, and even dead. Conditions aboard these ships after weeks of sailing
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