Europe’s Interaction with Africa, Asia Essay

In the mid-15th century, European nations started sending merchants, explorers, colonizers and missionaries to various part of the world. Historians often referred to this phenomenon as the sequence of Discovery, an era in which unknown seas were traversed, pertly lands and sights were discovered and an astounding rising phase in global encounters was initiated (Sanders, Morillo and Nelson 3). The Age of Discovery played an important role in the political and economical development of Western Europe. Some of its key legacies included colonization, the development of big horticultural industries and the spread of Christianity.The Age of Discovery, however, is usually portrayed as altogether European and historically unique. It must be made clear that much(prenominal) a description is conduct and incomplete. Exploration and expansion are not historical novelties, and neither are they uniquely European. Furthermore, they squander other motivations, strengths and cross-cultu ral perceptions apart from the desire to discover other lands (Sanders, Morillo and Nelson 3). Islamic and Chinese explorers and traders have been traveling across Asia, Arabia and Africa centuries before Christopher Columbus set egress from Spain in 1492.The journeys of Ibn Battuta in the mid-fourteenth century, for instance, took him through the vast extent of the Islamic world. Zheng He, a choke admiral who lived during the Ming Dynasty, sailed as far as the coast of east Africa in the mid-15th century (Sanders, Morillo and Nelson 3). Tunisian philosopher and historian Ibn Khaldun traveled as far as Spain in the fourteenth century (Ahmed 102). nevertheless European and non-European explorers differed in harm of the motives behind their respective journeys. Non-European explorers traveled primarily to create extensive religious and trade networks.Muslims were partially bound by religion and commerce as a form of compensation for the near-absence of political unity in the Isl amic world. Despite ethnic and regional differences, their adherence to Islamic laws and values provided them with a sense of unity and shared identity. The establishment of long-distance trading networks, meanwhile, allowed Muslim producers and consumers from dissimilar regions to communicate with one another, as well as with peoples of different religions (Sanders, Morillo and Nelson 4).Muslim traders therefore organized camel caravans to the frontiers of India and across the Sahara in Africa. They likewise constituted equally profitable trade routes by sea across the Indian Ocean. By the late 15th century, the commercial activity in about of the regions surrounding the Indian Ocean was almost under their control. Furthermore, certain localities in the Islamic world were gaining recognition for their excellence in specific industries. Persia, for example, was noteworthy in the 14th century for its exquisite glassware, jewelry and pottery (Sanders, Morillo and Nelson 4). encomp assing trade and industry, in turn, provided the Islamic world with urbanized and cosmopolitan societies. civilize commercial centers such as Cairo, Damascus, Baghdad, Timbuktu and Zanzibar attracted residents from distant regions that eventually converted to Islam. These new converts subsequently spread Islam and elements of Islamic culture to their respective homelands. The Delhi Sultanate of India and the West African kingdom of Mali are some examples of regions that were not originally Islamic barely were later Islamized (Sanders, Morillo and Nelson 4).In sharp contrast, the motive behind most European explorations was the pseudo-revival of the Reconquista (the struggle of the Spanish and Portuguese Christians to expel the Moors from their respective countries). In the 14th and 15th centuries, anti-Moor sentiment was unsounded strong in Spain and Portugal it was during these periods that Spanish and Portuguese Christians successfully expelled the Moors from Iberia. But this victory soon left galore(postnominal) knights hazardous and looking for new adventures.Many knights thus joined overseas expeditions, reckon these as new opportunities to vanquish the hated Moors (Sanders, Morillo and Nelson 5). Certain economic conditions in Europe during the 14th and 15th centuries were also responsible for the xenophobic attitude that many European explorers had during the Age of Discovery. In these eras, most European economies were still small, largely agrarian and geared towards meeting local needs. Muslim merchants and middlemen were the furbish up sources of spices and other luxury goods.In addition, Europe was politically fragmented the classics monarchs wasted scarce resources and manpower in the numerous wars and conflicts that they waged against each other. Lastly, the Black Death (bubonic plague) killed millions and further weakened economies, adding to the pervasive atmosphere of timidity and xenophobia (Sanders, Morillo and Nelson 5). Given the insular, backward and unsophisticated nature of Europe in the 14th and 15th centuries, it was no longer surprising that the expeditions from the genuine had mostly unwholesome effects.Many explorers viewed the natives that they encountered in foreign lands as barbarians that must be polite by being subjugated to them. By the 16th and 17th centuries, therefore, many countries in Asia, Africa and the Americas ended up being the colonies of Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands, Britain and France (Sanders, Morillo and Nelson 5). In addition, the transatlantic knuckle down trade occurred from the 16th to the 19th centuries. Mainstream historians had indeed painted a misleading and incomplete picture of the Age of Discovery.By claiming that the Age of Discovery was an totally European and historically unique phenomenon, they are implying that it was an event that was born out of Europes benevolent desire to discover other lands. But the truth is that the Age of Discovery should not be glorified. Exploration and expansion have already been taking place long before it happened cogent evidence that the inhabitants of the regions outside of Europe are not savages. The Age of Discovery occurred at a time when Europe was still insular, backward and unsophisticated.Thus, many of the continents explorers exhibited a fearful and xenophobic attitude when it came to dealing with people not of their own race. This paranoia, in turn, led to the colonization of several nations in Africa, Asia and the Americas. In addition, slavery became a centuries-old practice.Works CitedAhmed, Akbar S. Discovering Islam Making Sense of Muslim History and Society. New York Routledge, 1989. Sanders, Thomas, Stephen Morillo, and Samuel H. Nelson. Encounters in World History Sources and Themes from the Global Past, sight II From 1500. New York McGraw-Hill, 2005.