The era of great geographic discoveries is well-known and well-remembered for the supposed progress that it provided for Europe. However, up until recently, the massive harm caused to indigenous people, who have been severely affected by the thoughtless actions and violence of colonizers, has been neglected. Although economically, expansion into other parts of the world has led to Europe’s further economic progress, culturally, the specified era deserves to be known only notoriously as the “Age of Destruction.”
The time frame that this essay considers stretches from the early 15th century to the late 17th century. The specified process is deemed to have started with Columbus’ foray into what he considered to be India and continued with the colonization of North and South Americas. The development of wealth, as well as trading infrastructure, and the resulting accumulation of wealth, are traditionally associated with the described period, hence the name. However, the other side of history, namely, the detrimental effects of the expansion on the lives of indigenous people and their culture, is often ignored.
Furthermore, it is a noteworthy fact that the positions of influential European states in Asia were quite precarious. Combined with the increasing rise in the power of competitors and the need to apply additional efforts to keep them away from the positions of European states, namely, Spain, the actions are taken to reinforce the process of expansion was rather violent and, therefore, destructive. Notably, not only the victims of colonizers suffered from the specified line of politics (Herrera & Garcia-Bertrand, 2018). The states that we’re undertaking the described measures to reinforce their shaky positions were also taking significant damage.
However, there can be no possible doubt that indigenous populations and residents of the colonized areas were the ones who suffered the most. For instance, the Muslim population of Goa was nearly extinguished in an attempt at establishing spice trade in Europe using Goan resources (Khalilieh, 2019). Moreover, the destructive effects of colonists occurred due to the lack of caution in addressing the well-being of residents. Namely, along with their suffocating cultural and political invasion, European travelers brought an array of diseases to North and South America, nearly exterminating the local population. According to Goldin and Kutama (2016), “Smallpox, measles, influenza, and typhus” are only a few European diseases that represented a deadly threat to the well-being of Native Americans (p. 93). Therefore, the Age of Destruction is a much more appropriate title for the specified time slot.
In addition, the very concept of the discovery of new lands should be seen as rather controversial from the modern perspective. Implying that the discovered land was s neutral area free for invaders to take, it positions the process of expansion as legitimate, whereas it was the exact opposite, given the extent of the human toll and the suffering experienced by native residents. The notorious “Manifest Destiny,” which promoted the further expansion of colonists into North America, had massively negative implications for Native Americans, leading to multiple injustices, inhumane attitudes of colonists toward the specified demographic, and the ultimate near-extermination of Native American residents (Householder, 2016). The violence and aggression with which colonists annexed the territories that they believed to be a no man’s land were truly atrocious (Khalilieh, 2019). Thus, the so-called Age of Discovery should be appropriately renamed the Ag of Destruction.
Apart from the obvious physical destruction of indigenous populations, one should also mention the cultural colonialism that the Age of Destruction brought. Dismissing the culture of indigenous people as “barbaric,” Europeans tended to promote theirs aggressively while appropriating its certain elements (Householder, 2016). However, in most cases, the culture of the natives was viewed as barbaric, which caused European colonists to make multiple efforts in transforming the culture of residents into what Europeans saw as the civilized one (Figueira. 2015). The specified efforts had drastic outcomes on the cultures of indigenous people, erasing them and establishing the European cultural ideology as the dominant one (Householder, 2016). The described effects serve as proof that the so-called ‘Age of Discovery” righteously deserves to be renamed as the Age of Destruction since it affected vulnerable ethnic minorities on a cultural level as well.
While the era of geographical discoveries has been lauded for the window of opportunities that it has provided for Europe in terms of new explorations and wealth increase, it needs to be defined as the Age of Destruction from the cultural perspective due to the irreparable harm done to indigenous people in the process. Indeed, revisiting the outcomes of the expansion in question, one will realize that it was the process of expansion did more harm than good since it involved annexing the lands that were previously owned by indigenous people, as well as performing multiple manslaughters and erasing cultures. Therefore, despite the progress that Europe saw with the Age of Discovery, the specified period should be appropriately renamed as the Age of Destruction.
References
Figueira, D. (2015). The hermeneutics of suspicion: Cross-cultural encounters with India. Bloomsbury Publishing.
Goldin, I., & Kutarna, C. (2016). Age of discovery: Navigating the risks and rewards of our new renaissance. Bloomsbury Publishing.
Herrera, R. J., & Garcia-Bertrand, R. (2018). Ancestral DNA, human origins, and migrations. Academic Press.
Householder, M. (2011). Inventing Americans in the age of discovery: Narratives of encounter. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.
Khalilieh, H. S. (2019). Islamic law of the sea: Freedom of navigation and passage rights in Islamic thought. Cambridge University Press.