Vasco Da Gama: Huge Discoveries With Huge Consequences

As Chuck Palahniuk said in Invisible Monster: « Our real discoveries come from chaos, from going to the place that looks wrong and stupid and foolish”(1). The transition between Old and New World comes from the destruction and annihilation of populations, cultures and the lack of sense of human beings.

What are the main discoveries since the 15th centuries and what are the consequences?

To start, the Portuguese always wanted to find a route to go in India. In 1498, Vasco da Gama arrived to Calicut in western India. At this time, Da Gama became the first European to reach India. They are two main African factors that made this discovery possible. Thanks to favourable conditions, the Portuguese traversed the empty seas and then pushed north from the Cape of Good Hope until they ran across the southern terminus of the Indo-African trade route. From there they rely upon local knowledge and local pilot could take them to India. Da Gama decided to target the Malabar coast because South East Asia and the Middle East passed along its shares. In 1511, he captured Malacca which is the 1st trading state in South East Asia. Malacca because of its potential became the capital of their “Estado da India”. The spice trade was the main purpose why Portugal’s desire to lead the Indian Ocean. . Portugal still have its trade with European and Asian competitors and also dominated the trade between different regions of Asia.

At the end of the 15th century Spain started to search for new trade routes overseas like the Portuguese Empire wad doing in India. In 1492, Christopher Columbus‘s expedition was funded to reach “the Indies”. The Spanish colonization of the Americas was under the control of “conquistadors” (soldier-explorers like Columbus). The Spanish forces, exploited conflicts and threats between competing indigenous peoples to make their conquest stronger and their empire more powerful. One of the most famous conquistadors was Hernán Cortés. He achieved the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire.

Some empires such as Spain and Portugal decided to leave their land to discover the world and extend their influence. Some other preferred to discover huge provinces in its own state.

Muscovy was the main state during the 15th century and was required to discover new places over the steppe and reached north Asia before the Chinese and Japanese influence arrived. Orthodox Church guided those discoveries. Ivan III transformed the conquered state into a dynastic state. Muscovy’s struggle to transform itself into a dynastic regime able to absorb the North Russian states, resist Poland-Lithuania and overawe the Volga khanates. This intimidation was a decisive phase into the eventual emergence of Russia as an engine of Europe’s expansion into Northern Europe. The rise of Muscovy was due to the opportunism of its princes who made themselves the allies and collaborators of the steppe khanate. After 1480 it was a vital period of Muscovite expansion and shaped the whole cause of the Occidental invasion of central and northern Eurasia. The 16th century was a long series of war to keen Polish influence. The Russians held on their startling territorial gains in forest and steppe. His successor was Ivan IV named ‘The Terrible’ promoted a monastic revival.

Russian conquest of the steppes khanates suggests a parallel with exploits of Cortés and Pizarro concerning the disasters of those conquests in term of death or method used. But all the advantages of the “conquistadors” were not allowed to Moscow. They were well-know to their foe and not be mistaken for gods. But they have a decisive tactical/strategic superiority on the open steppe. After all those discoveries were made, European states were being more and more powerful. Instead, the state of Muscovy became Russia ( the huge territory we know today) by bringing all conquered territories together. Since Russia was created, the country knew problems such as internal terrorism and a rebellious group named ‘The Time of Troubles’ which desired Tsar’s death.

Thanks to several factors, those conquests and expansions of territories could be possible but had huge consequences.

The naval technology of the caravel allow the Portuguese to largely dominate the Indian ocean and so show their naval supremacy. Moreover, the real reason of Cortes’s success in the Americas, are cultural and biological. Aztec’s empire was vulnerable because they were an inability to grasp the origins, the aims, the motives of Europeans. They thought that the reason for its sudden appearance was because of a “supernatural event”. It creates a total mental disorientation in the Aztec’s mental but it allows the Spanish to destroy their territory and weren’t able to resist. Moreover, this conquest was possible because of a biological shock of demographic catastrophe due to the Old war. Due to the diseases, they were lack of immunity. During the Old War of Eurasia, Spain have done dissolution of the most powerful societies. These new spaces were able to receive a new-post conquest society where Spanish needs and ideas could be implemented. 15th-16th centuries represent Portuguese and Spanish most powerful agents of the occidental breakout. The muscovite expansion was easy thanks to the social and political crisis of the Volga steppe societies in the 16th century.

Finally, most of the territories all these colonial rulers had, were exhaust from their resources. The most common desire was getting rich. Gold, silver were the main purpose of why conquistadors wanted to discover the world to enrich their homeland and create the most powerful empire. In my opinion, I think those conquests had a huge impact on cultures because of economic reasons and the technological supremacy of countries against the population. Maybe things could have been different if conquistadors exercised human being. They destroyed everything and do not take advantage of what each culture could enrich them.

As conclusion, we can say that explorations and discoveries helped a lot populations to better understand and know the world they live in. But on the other hand, we can reproach that explorers didn’t have the necessary retreat to realize how much they could learn from civilizations they killed just in order to have the biggest empire.

Sources:

1. Sarkis, Stéphanie. “Quotes Discovery.” Psychology Today , 29 Dec. 2013, www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/here-there-and-everywhere/201312/20-quotes-discovery.
2. Services , ER. “Portuguese Explorers .” History of Western II , 2014, (2) https://courses.lumenlearning.com/suny-hccc-worldhistory2/chapter/portuguese-explorers/.