Age of Exploration- Spain, Portugal, England Research Paper Example

Age of Exploration Age of Exploration- Spain, Portugal, England Paper Age of Exploration- Spain, Portugal, England Paper Q 6 Compare and contrast the early colonial empires of Portugal, Spain, and England in terms of motives, economic foundations, and relations with Africans and Indians. What factors explain the similarities and differences in the two ventures? The Age of Exploration was a period from the early 1600’s to the 1700’s during which Europeans explored the world, searching for trade partners and desirable goods. During this time, the three most influential European nations were Portugal, Spain, and England. If fingers had to be pointed at which country started the Age of Exploration, it would be Portugal, because if it had not been for the carrack and then the caravel, Atlantic trade would not have been started. However, the Spanish had the first global empires, rivaling the English’s largest empire. Each country had different motives for acquiring these colonies, different economic backgrounds, and different relations with the Africans and Indians. They also went about creating relations with the Africans and Indians in different ways. However, despite these differences, the same basic goal was accomplished, to discover new trade. The first English attempt at colonization was in Newfoundland. This collapsed when the promoter died at sea. However, this was only the start of English exploration and colonization. As the seventeenth century began, the population of England was skyrocketing to about 4 million and England’s economy was in ruins. Thousands of farmers were kicked off their farms and were unemployed. It was these unemployed people that would sail to the Americas. Years later, in 1606 Englishmen set sail on a ship headed towards Virginia. The people received a charter from King James I of England. The attraction that drew men was gold with a desire to find a new passage through America to the Indies. Later that year, the settlers from the Virginia Bay Company were attacked by Indians. This forced them to move the location of their colony up the James River. Their new location was called Jamestown. Two years later, an Englishmen was captured by local Indians and was almost executed, had he not been saved by a woman Indian. However, it was later found out hat the Indians never intended on killing him, but they wanted to prove to the English their power and desire for peaceful relations. Two years after that, the English had decided to use aggressive military action against the Indians. Relations remained tense between the Indians and English, especially when the English raided their food supply. To the English, the Indians had no value or valuable commodities, so they could be â€Å"disposed† without harm to the colony. When colonizing, the English did not think of anybody but themselves. All they wanted to do was get rid of the unemployed in their own country, send them off to acquire a system of mercantilism (a colony for the sole purpose of trade with the mother country) with spices, gold and silver, and would do this at any cost (i. e. murder of Indians and stranding sick Englishmen). Portugal invented two devices that were vital for the Age of Exploration to be made possible, the carrack and the caravel. The Portuguese hoped that with the use of these ships and further exploration, they would be pulled out of their current recession. The current recession proposed the problem of finding people to sponsor these expeditions. However, spices and silk were in such a high demand that people and companies came forth to sponsor. The first wave of expeditions by Portugal were launched by Prince Henry, or Henry the Navigator. His primary project was off the coast of West Africa where established trade routes brought slaves and gold. Over time the Portuguese state proved to be too small and did not have efficient funds to keep up the colonies and empire. They could not compete with larger nations and therefore was not a long-term successful colonizer of the New World. Spanish Conquistadors are known for rapidly colonizing the Americas at a pace that could not be rivaled by another nation. The purpose of these colonies was to spread the word of G-d to other parts of the world and to attain gold. While achieving this, the Spanish Conquistadors completely destroyed the culture of the native people. The Spanish were said to have hit so hard with their culture and everything they had, that no trace of what was previously there stood. When the Spanish arrived in the Incan empire, the European disease of smallpox had wiped out mass amounts of Incas, including the emperor, inciting a civil war. The Spanish used the Indians that were left, putting them to work in mines and had traded gold and silver with them. Even some of the Spanish Conquistadors described their conquest as â€Å"pure destruction†. When people currently learn about the Age of Exploration, it is looked at as a positive thing. However, that is because our country sprouted as a result of it. But, many disastrous things occurred as a result of it too. In the Americas, the Indian civilizations were destroyed and used for their resources and sometimes raided for food. In Africa, explorers worked with the Africans to catch slaves and mine for gold. However, this would not last, as eventually the greedy Europeans would take over the slave trade in Africa putting Africans out of work. Regardless of what the Europeans did to the people there before them, they all had the same goals in mind and a similar economic background. They were all in search of spices, gold, and permanent trading partners and all of Europe was in recession. Some countries were able to pull out of that recession, unlike Portugal who was too small to sustain their colonies through the recession. In total, the countries discovered new lands, established new trade lines, and without the Age of Exploration, the world would not be remotely similar to how it is today.

Cyrus McCormick, Inventor of the Mechanical Reaper

Cyrus McCormick, Inventor of the Mechanical Reaper Cyrus McCormick (February 15, 1809–May 13,  1884), a Virginia blacksmith, invented the mechanical reaper  in 1831. Essentially a horse-drawn machine that harvested wheat, it was one of the most important inventions in the history of farm innovation. The reaper, which one observer  likened to a cross between a wheelbarrow and a chariot, was capable of  cutting six acres of oats in one afternoon, the equivalent of 12 men working with scythes. Fast Facts: Cyrus McCormick Known For: Invented the mechanical reaperKnown As: The Father of Modern AgricultureBorn: February 15, 1809 in Rockbridge County,  VirginiaParents: Robert McCormick, Mary Ann HallDied: May 13, 1884 in Chicago, IllinoisSpouse: Nancy Nettie FowlerChildren: Cyrus McCormick Jr., Harold Fowler McCormickNotable Quote: Indomitable perseverance in a business, properly understood, always ensures ultimate success. Early Life McCormick was born in 1809 in Rockbridge County, Virginia, to Robert McCormick and Mary Ann Hall McCormick, who had migrated from Great Britain. He was the eldest of eight children in a family that was influential in the area. His father was a farmer but also a blacksmith and an inventor. Young McCormick had little formal education, spending his time instead in his fathers workshop. His father held patents for inventing such farm machinery as a clover huller, a blacksmith’s bellows, a hydraulic power machine, and other labor-saving devices for the farm, but after more than 20 years he had failed to come up with a workable, horse-drawn mechanical reaping machine. Cyrus decided to take up the challenge. Seeds of the Reaper McCormicks invention would make him prosperous and famous, but he was a religious young man who believed his mission was to help feed the world. For farmers in the early 19th century, harvesting required a large number of laborers. He set out to reduce the number of hands needed for the harvest. He  drew on the work of many other people in developing the reaper, including that of his father and Jo Anderson, one of his fathers slaves, but he ended up basing his work on principles entirely different from those employed by Robert McCormick. After 18 months, he came up with a working model. His machine had a vibrating cutting blade, a reel to pull the grain within reach of the blade, and a platform to catch the falling grain. He had succeeded, and he was only 22. The first version was rough- it made such a clatter that slaves were assigned to walk with the frightened horses to keep them calm- but it clearly worked. He received a patent for his invention in 1834. Ironically, after he had received the patent, McCormick set aside his invention to focus on his familys iron foundry, which failed in the wake of the bank panic of 1837 and left the family deeply in debt. So he returned to his reaper, setting up production in a shop next to his fathers house and focusing on improvements. He finally sold his first machine in 1840 or 1841, and business slowly took off. Moves to Chicago A visit to the Midwest convinced McCormick that the future of his reaper was in that sprawling, fertile land instead of the rocky soil in the East.  Following more improvements, he and his brother Leander opened a factory in Chicago in 1847 and sold 800 machines that first year. The new venture, the McCormick Harvesting Machine Co., eventually became the largest farm equipment manufacturing firm in the country. In 1851, McCormick gained international fame when his reaper won the Gold Medal at the landmark Great Exposition in Londons Crystal Palace. He became a leading public figure and remained active in Presbyterian causes as well as Democratic politics. In 1871, the  Great Chicago Fire  destroyed McCormicks company, but the family rebuilt it and McCormick continued to innovate. In 1872, he produced a reaper that  automatically bound the bundles with wire. Eight years later, he came out with a binder that, using a knotting device invented by Wisconsin pastor John F. Appleby, bound the handles with twine.  Despite fierce competition and legal battles over patents, the company continued to prosper. Death and Tragedy McCormick died in 1884, and his eldest son, Cyrus Jr., took over as president at only 25 years old. Two years later, though, the business was marked by tragedy. A workers strike in 1886 that involved the McCormick Harvesting Machine Co. eventually turned into one of the worst labor-related riots in American history. By the time the Haymarket Riot ended, seven policemen and four civilians were dead. Charges were brought against eight reputed anarchists: Seven were sentenced to death; one committed suicide in prison, four were hanged, and the sentences of two were commuted to life in prison. Cyrus McCormick Jr. continued as president of the company until 1902, when J.P. Morgan bought it, along with five others, to form the International Harvester Co. Legacy Cyrus McCormick is remembered as â€Å"The Father of Modern Agriculture because he  made it possible for farmers to expand their small, personal farms into much larger operations. His reaping machine brought an end to hours of tedious fieldwork and encouraged the invention and manufacture of other labor-saving  farm implements and machinery. McCormick and his competitors continued to improve their products, leading to such innovations as self-raking reapers, with a continually moving canvas belt that delivered the cut grain to two men riding on the end of the platform, who bundled it.   The reaper was eventually replaced by the self-propelled combine, operated by one man, which cuts, gathers, threshes, and sacks the grain mechanically. But the original reaper was the first step in a transition from hand labor to the mechanized farming of today. It brought about an industrial revolution, as well as a vast change in agriculture. Sources Cyrus McCormick. InventionWare.com.McCormick, Cyrus Hall. American National Biography.Cyrus McCormick: American Industrialist and Inventor. Encylopedia Brittanica.Nancy Fowler McCormick. Revolvy.Cyrus McCormick Biography. TheFamousPeople.com.

Changing Aid Modalities Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Changing Aid Modalities - Assignment Example The Tanzanian government needs to be in the forefront in ensuring that the support being given by the donors is utilized effectively in order to win their confidence. However, the government has been acting as a stumbling block, an aspect that has been affecting the level of development in the country. It is impossible for the donors to give out money and fail to monitor how it’s being utilized. This is because many of the African leaders have been accused of corruption. In addition, these governments have not set up strong institutions that would play an oversight role, thereby ensuring that every penny by donors is accounted for. Moreover, the government has a long chain of command involving the central government, and local government. These can be the loopholes that can be used by the leaders to embezzle donor funds. Therefore, there was need to involve an independent party to ensure that the money is utilized effectively. There is need to establish an independent auditing body which will serve the interests of the Tanzanian government and that of the donors. Although the issue looks like it has been settled, there is need to ensure that it does not erupt once again. This is through ensuring that there is a joint body established by the two bodies which will be mandated with ensuring that the interests of the two parties are taken into consideration. Both parties should appoint their representatives, an aspect that will play a significant role in reducing the conflict levels. The government should not be involved in the management of donor aid. Already, it has a mandate of ensuring that the current resources are utilized effectively. In addition, it has been dotted by different cases of corruption. This is the reason why many of the officials feel that the donors should leave the role of managing the funds to the government officials. However, doing this will make it hard for the funds