Essay Help! European Colonization

The Indians (of India that is) had as said above traded with china for a long time, later they traded chinese goods with the Romans either by buying them directly from the chinese or through South-East Asian merchants in India.

Also Oman in later centuries had some African colonies. And the Arab conquest of Maghreb can be considered colonization since many Arabs settled there and became overlords, though in the 9th century most North African states came to be ruled by Berber dynasties, still the Arab colonisation (if you may call it that) had a profound cultural and linguistic effect on the Maghreb. In African countries further south many Arabs set up trading colonies from which they also spread Islam and many of these were highly educated and valued as advisors and admnistrators in these African states.

Anyway, colonisation and exploration is not unique to Europe.

HEHEHE this jumps around so much inbetween on topic and off topic it's just extremely funny

HEHEHE this jumps around so much inbetween on topic and off topic it's just extremely funny

Sorry for the double post how do i delete?

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Originally Posted by Prince of the Poodles

Heres what ive got:

European World:

1. Economics - open direct trade with asia
2. spread of religion
3. desire to expand
4. more competition among nations than in the other spheres
5. enlightened outlook on the world

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Guns! You forgot guns, my friend. That, and superior European ship-building and navigation. When the Portuguese sent a second fleet to India under Cabral in 1500, they gave him instructions to avoid trouble and look for profit, but also to sink any fleet that sought to oppose him. And the fact of the matter is that he could sink any fleet that opposed him.

Of course underpinning the superior shipbuilding, navigation and weaponry was a developing mentality; a mix of curiosity, individualism, greed and escapism which was reinforced by the competition between European rulers and elites.

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Originally Posted by Randarkmaan

Also Oman in later centuries had some African colonies.

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In fact, they controlled most of Eastern Africa right down to Mozambique. So did the Sassanids before them, as did, interestingly, the Parthians. The product of Kurdish navigational skill (why do you think Sindbad is a Kurdish name?).

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The product of Kurdish navigational skill (why do you think Sindbad is a Kurdish name?).

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Didn't know it was, but now I know...

It has to be remembered that Columbus was a merchant by trade, and by knowing many languages he would have a leg-up in business. Its more probable that Columbus was Genoese considering that he consulted the Elector of Genoa First, because of his national sentiment against Venezia he would have wanted his own government to have a quicker more viable trade to India and China. Unfortunately, Genoa didn't want much to do with his idea, as the small Republic had interests for their ships elsewhere in the Mediterranean. Then Columbus went to Portugal, and asked the King for ships to cross the Atlantic, but Portugal was already headlong in Colonisation, particularly in Africa and India, and they thought it would be an ill investment to pay the fee for several ships to cross an infinite body of water (in their minds). Finally, Columbus was able to strike a deal with Spain, who after finally pushing the Moors out of Iberia, were not in great need of Transport Galleys... or Caravels. Isabella took a gamble with Columbus, if he was successful, to her mind then Spain would have a dominance in Global Monopolies, if unsuccessful, the short term damage was that Spain was out three ships, and quite a bit of money... the long term is left to speculation, but its pretty easy to say, that Spain wouldn't be getting any Boost in Gold Dubloons. But we all know Columbus was correct, and the rest is history...

Going back to my first point, If Columbus wrote his log in Spanish or Catalan, perhaps he did it because he wanted Merchants back in Spain to be able to read it legably without having to know much Italian.

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Originally Posted by lars573

He was Spainish. Catalan specifically. He faked being Genoese most probably because he had been one of the Catalan cosairs that had rebelled against King Ferdinand in the 1480's.

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There is a lot of mythology about Columbus. He was a Genoese corsair, not Catalan. He nearly died in a naval battle against the Portuguese in 1476 and was ship-wrecked near Cabo São Vicente in Portugal. After that, he worked in Portugese service and sailed the African coast for them - nationality not yet being an issue in those days.

He did not write Catalan, he wrote a mixture of Spanish and Portugese. When in doubt he used the Portugese form. Many fake logs of Columbus have circulated. In the nineteenth century an English copy (written in English!) was 'discovered' and taken seriously for some time...

There have also been many fake claims about Columbus origins. He has been claimed as a Spaniard, Frenchman, Armenian, Catalan, Georgain and Galician.

In a little-known book entitled Sails of Hope: The Secret Mission of Christopher Columbus (1972) nazi-hunter Simon Wiesenthal claimed that Columbus was actually a Jew, a converso intent on discovering new lands where the Jews could settle in order to escape persecution.

Let us stick to the facts, the truth is fascinating enough.

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Originally Posted by Baba Ga'on

Indian navigators are suspected of having reached China long, long before the birth of Christ, and spread their culture quite extensively throughout Southeast Asia and the Malay archipelago.

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What I meant by that statement was that the point presented in Prince of the Poodles' first post -- the view of superiority among themselves prevented intent of colonization -- which he attributed to his professor, appeared to refer to China alone (and perhaps Japan), and not Asia in general.

The ancient Indians were indeed extremely active merchants of their day. Their extensive cultural influence could easily be seen throughout the entirety of Southeast Asia, among other places. The Khmer Empire is probably the most famous example of Indian cultural influence being so deep among the populace, aside from, of course, Buddhism and Hinduism.

:bow:

One reason, look at a world map (or better a globe) while considering those that had the abilities. Muslim World, India and others in the middle doesn't really have easy access to the New World. Now China/East Asia vs Europe, which sea is smaller, Atlantic or Pacific? Of course there are lot of islands in the pacific but they where not that interesting for the big Asian powers. And as for Africa, well no real naval powers in West Africa, and they where slightly less advanced then the others of the Old World.