Sunday, October 12, 2008
Prompt 1
Although I've already responded to this prompt, I was wondering a few things about it. I am confused about whether gold means literally gold and silver mines in the Americas, or if gold is a representation of financial gain through new trade routes. The answer is different for each meaning. Columbus set sail looking for a trade route to the East by way of sailing westward. He did this for glory, but also for gold, which here means financial gain for his country through the new trade route that he hoped to find. South America was explored mainly by those wishing to spread their religion on natives. While exploring the land gold was found, but this was not the reason for going there in the first place.
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2 comments:
I think gold refers to the economic gains to be had in the Americas.
Sam Stewart you have just showed me that I was wrong in my prompt. I had said glory at first but I had forgotten that the whole point of sailing west was to reach the rich trade ports of the East Indies. So they did sail for gold. Thank you for reminding me of this.
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