The Extent of European Influence on the World in 1650 The extent of European influence was almost unavoidable during the 1650's. After the Dark Ages and the Renaissance were over Europe became an intellectual and wealthy hub in the known world. There are several reasons that made this possible. A few were there vast merchant trading system there ability to maintain advanced weapon technology and the most important factor, the drive to explore everywhere there ships would take them. With these factors in place it is no surprise that Europe was a dominant world power. Their desire to expand their nations was so strong that many explorers dedicated their lives to discovering and conquering new lands. This is not to say that their motivations were not money. The only way to survive was to be the ones with the most money because from wealth everything else followed. Not to mention the blood that was shed along the way from the millions of natives that were enslaved, tortured and killed.
Abduction of Europe
Europe Simulator
Relief map of Europe and surrounding regionsThe first explorers or conquistadors, were actually Spanish and not English, contrary to popular belief. The three main conquistadors were Cortes, Columbus and Pizarro. Probably the most ironic part of that new age of discovery is that when Columbus original departed from Spain his mission was to find a quicker trade route to Asia than the Portuguese. Columbus found the America's by accident. At first he thought that he had come upon the Islands southeast of India. But it was not until some other Spanish explorer climbed a huge mountain in Central America and saw there was an even bigger ocean on the other side. This made it quite obvious that this was not the Indies but a completely new continent. All this is important because finding this new...