The history of Europe

The history of Europe contains the history of the United States. The Roman Empire continuously sought new lands because it sought new conquests. When the empire fell, Europe was left alone and defenseless against its enemies. Satisfied with Christianity, the people sought little else. However, those people who traveled on pilgrimage to the Holy Land were attacked by Moslems. In response, the nations of Europe began the Crusades. This exposure to new lands sparked new tastes, and exploration began again. This time, however, people sought new lands for new opportunities (16).

Most of the new lands were found by traders, and the trading businesses were largely monopolized by Italian city states (3). Portugal was able to crack this monopoly by finding the route around Africa to Asia (5). Thus, Christopher Columbus, though Italian, went to Spain with his plan. Neither the Italian nor Portuguese governments needed it. Spain, left out of the trading business but having just rid the land of Moslems and Jews, also sought new opportunities. They found these opportunities in Columbus' plans to find the East by sailing west.

Once people realized the New World Columbus discovered was not Asia, the European nations began claiming their own sections (1623). Unlike the Asian nations which had wellestablished governments with strong armies, Cortes, Pizarro, and the other conquistadors found a people organized but easily disorganized by superstition. They were willing to fight,

Related Essays

Economic History of Europe: 900-1500 Part two, 900-1500. The rise of the West: A new economic history. pp. 19-89. In the early Middle Ages, the economy of Europe was based on a manoral system. .... (349 1 )

History of Witchcraft in Europe This paper examines something of the history of witchcraft in Europe, looking particularly at how ideas about witchcraft were connected at different times with .... (2731 11 )

War and Society in Europe .... It is perhaps a hard truth that the history of Europe between the emergence of Napoleon and the beginning of World War I is very much a history of war in Europe .... (3813 15 )

History of Immigration in the US .... are indigenous to this continent, and at some point in their history they may .... Catholics, and Jews in Czarist Russia and other parts of Europe; the Industrial .... (2241 9 )

European Isolation and the EC .... His book offers a very good description of the history of Europe in the period in question and also provides a number of arguments to be considered for the .... (1603 6 )

5 and 1787 stipulated a plan for their mapping, settlement, and allotment of land, and the prohibition of slavery in the Northwest Territories. These ordinances avoided much of the confusion and resulting arguments that accompanied the original colonial land grants (140141). At the same time, the industrial revolution was changing the nation born of a political revolution. The Embargo Act of 1807, the NonIntercourse Act of 1809, and the War of 1812 contributed to the belief that the nation had not only to harvest its own resources but also had to manufacture its own products. Slowly overcoming their cheaper importation from England, textiles, steel, coal, and iron industries developed until they could compete against England. Additionally, "American Ingenuity" in people such as Eli Whitney developed the concept of interchangeable parts, itself as revolutionary as the development of industry (143145). After the Revolutionary War, the single most important event in the history of the United States was the Civil War. The reasons for it are many and complex. There are many more causes than simply whether or not the nation would have slaves. Geographically, the North with its rivers and ocean depended on manufacture and

Category: History - T