Europeans Domination Over Latin America example essay topic

European imperialism during 1450-1750, began as a plan to gain more riches for the European nations. The Europeans did this for three main reasons, which were for God, Gold, and Glory. The Europeans domination over Latin America, Africa and Asia were made out to be good for the native people of these lands. However, the Europeans were not there to help these geographic areas. They were there to spread their influence and gain riches for themselves and the European nations.

The successes and failures of the Europeans and non Europeans would decide their relationship status for as long as they could co-exist. In Latin America, Cortes who was the conqueror of Mexico, and Pizarro the conqueror of Peru and the In cans, would control the ancient Latin America civilizations for many years to come. In order to maintain steady control over the area, the two conquistador es would have to create a facade for the Inca's, Mayans, and Aztec tribes. This facade, would have to hide the fact that the Europeans had no intentions of providing aid for these natives. The extraction of riches and slaves would have remained a secret, while the Europeans would settle and pretend to help the natives out. Bringing guns, medicine, and other European inventions to the Latin American tribes and trading for more gold and other spices gave a peaceful demeanor to the Europeans.

The slave trade involving the Latin Americans would become the hardest thing to justify and later on it would be the cause of many rebellions by the natives. The Europeans, in order to keep the peace in Latin America and in the other territories they were conquering, was to tell the soon to be slaves that they were going to Europe to live better lives. Instead, the Latin Americans were auctioned off and forced into slavery. After taking the gold, ruling over the people, and forcing them into slavery, the Spanish did nothing to help out the people of Latin America. European domination in Africa began because the Portuguese wanted to establish a faster route to India.

Yet, when the Portuguese arrived they began to set up a trade of gold, slaves and ivory. The Europeans pretended to be Christian humanitarians and attempted to convert the Africans to Christians. They used god to justify their mistreatment of the natives. Many of the natives did convert to Christianity and accepted the Europeans mistreatment's. The Europeans set up port cities on the African coast in order to help their ships on their journey to India. At the port cities, they could stop, rest, and replenish their supplies.

The Europeans would attempt to turn the different African tribes against each other and started many tribal wars throughout Africa. When a tribe was conquered, the remaining members would be transported back to Europe and the Americas in order to be sold into slavery, and their villages would be raided for any potential riches the Europeans could sell or use. Creating these tribal wars gave the Europeans money and also eliminated possible enemies from the land. The Europeans tried to use the same methods they had used in Africa and Latin America in Asia; however, the Asians were a very organized and very advanced civilization. The Europeans would have much more trouble in Asia then they did in Africa and Latin America as well.

The Asians had discovered gun powder and had their own weapons; therefore one of the Europeans primary trading materials would have next to no value in Asia. Another thing the Europeans would have very little success with, is their use of Christianity to justify their actions. The Asians were primarily Islamic or had no interest in converting to Christianity. The Europeans did eventually gain the trust of some of the Asians and were therefore able to gain portions of gold. They also converted several of the Asians to Christianity, but decided not to stay in most parts of Asia because they felt it was very unlikely that any profit would be made.

The Europeans would remain in control of a few major port cities to maintain some trade with Asia. The Europeans would govern these port cities themselves and established their own tariff policies and laws. The Europeans treated the Asians unfairly and caused many bloody rebellions. The main reason that sparked these rebellions was a growing resentment towards the Christian missionaries that were trying to convert the population into Christians. From this resentment, the Asians sparked a movement of people known as the boxers. The boxers were very spiritual and practiced martial arts.

The combination of the two encouraged them to believe that they were impervious to bullets. Although the boxer rebellion failed, it built up the country's nationalism. The nationalism that grew caused another rebellion in China during 1911, which finally drove the Europeans out of main cities and into the port city of Hong Kong. Because of the Europeans's uperiority in technology and knowledge, the natives of each country were left defenseless when they were being conquered. While they experienced different successes and failures in Africa, Latin America, and Asia, the Europeans established lasting effects on the people of these societies. The Europeans would eventually give the people back their territory and their freedom, but these areas in which they settled still speak the languages of the European powers that conquered them.