Everybody Wants to Rule the World

It's 1453 CE; the Portuguese have already discovered several islands and are exploring routes along the African coast when the Ottoman Empire gains control of Constantinople. Soon after, the major European trade routes are blocked, causing the trade via North Africa and the Red Sea to diminish significantly. In desperation, Europe looks outward. Instead of focusing on land-based trade routes, they start to explore other options to carry out their trade. This exploration was one of the main factors that started the Age of Discovery.

The Age of Discovery

Over the following two centuries, Europe expanded its influence around the world. What started out as a search for new trade routes soon became a search for new worlds. They discovered that the earth was much larger that what they had previously believed, and the discovery of new places and people caused them to send more and more ships out across the oceans. Jonas Bush observes in, "Exploring Our Lives," that "they [the explorers] had a burning drive to discover new things and bring themselves glory, wealth, and success."

Previously, exploration by ship generally took place near coastlines, never venturing into the unknown. But this changed when Christopher Columbus set out to find a western route to India, leading him to discover the Bahamas instead.

After it was revealed that there were new worlds, more rulers began to send voyagers to discover and claim these lands for themselves. Portugal claimed Brazil; Spain conquered Mexico, Chile, and Argentina; and England eventually established a colony in the United States.

America

Now while all these voyages and discoveries had good and bad about them, it was crucial that they happen for us to be able to live in these countries today. Discovering new worlds opened up countless doors that have led the way to new developments and discoveries over the centuries. And while all the worlds that were discovered were important, I think that the discovery of the United States was an irreplaceable event.


The colonization of the United States was a crucial step in reforming governments around the world. When England's king sent pilgrims across the ocean, he certainly didn't expect them to form their own nation—much less one that would become a world power. The revolution of the colonies paved the way for other countries to fight for independence from their European rulers. Countries like Haiti, Poland, Ireland, and the Netherlands started to fight for independence following the American Revolution.

The timing of these discoveries could not have been more perfect. Like Alyssa Pike explains in her post, "Riding Westward," "It was a time of forging ahead into a new day all the while concerned that something important was being left behind." With the Renaissance ideals of humanism encouraging people to become more than what they are and the Reformation beliefs that you can fight against power to accomplish what you believe is right, the settlers in these new worlds had all the motivation they needed to break off from what they had been a part of their wholes lives and take a chance on creating something new, something that they thought could be better than what they had before, with only the hope that they could achieve their dreams.

Image credit: Map of the world produced in 1689 by Gerard van Schagen (public domain)

Sources: https://www.britannica.com/topic/European-exploration/The-Age-of-Discovery
https://www.thoughtco.com/age-of-exploration-1435006