HIS271Y1 Lecture Notes - Eurocentrism, Equal Exchange, The Columbian Exchange
Document Summary
The discovery of america: 1507 map = fairly eurocentric view of what the world looked like, major centers are still europe, asia, and africa. One of the most successful failures in history. Set out to find the ocean passage. 1492 he set sail (convinced ferdinand that he could find the passage) 2 months later he landed on the coast of an island (ended up being the bahamas) A month after returning, he set sail again. 1498 he finally realized he had not found his original place he had set out to find. Cuba, dominican republic, venezuela, and honduras, etc had been claimed for spanish throne. Violent clashes at first arrival of new worlds . First contact defined in terms of extremes: old world vs. new world, etc. Many europeans overlooked the fact that this new world had a new identity, which made it difficult to conquer it.
