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Was the Age of Exploration a time of discovery or invasion? Respond below. 

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Was the Age of Exploration a time of discovery or invasion? Respond below. 

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Did Cortes embody the human spirit of exploration and acquisition of knowledge?

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Were the English and French any different from the Spanish when they reached the New World?

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Were these motives and causes for exploration harmless?

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In my opinion, these motives and causes for exploration were rather harmless. I think this because of how most of the reasons either had to do with curiosity (which is a natural thing humans feel and can't help) or the well-being of Portugal or just Europe in general. However, all of the motives and causes fit these two descriptions, except for Columbus. Columbus "discoveries" could be inspiring for many people and cause them to want to achieve what he did, as it was not very common for someone to discover new land and live to tell the tale at the time. That part is a harmless motive or cause, but Columbus also brought back and enslaved many of the natives from America, so if someone had used that part of his achievements as a motive, then I think that would be harmful.

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Cortes did not embody the human spirit of exploration and acquisition of knowledge. The reason why I think this is due to how what he did in Cuba isn't exactly be considered as exploring. Him and his men indeed see places like the grand city of Technochtitlan and the Yucatan Peninsula, it wasn't for the purpose of exploring. The reason they were at those places had nothing to do with curiosity. Instead, it was to conquer and steal, which Cortes and his men defiantly succeeded in doing. They killed many of the Aztec people and attempted to burn and loot every building they could. I also don't think Cortes learned anything, since he was looking for gold and glory, not any form of knowledge.

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The English and French were not any different from the Spanish when they reached the New World because they all mistreated the Native Americans. This can be supported by the 4th source, which mentioned beating, whipping, imprisoning them. They also all tried to force Christianity upon Native Americans, as in the 5th source it showed an image of French explorer Jacques Cartier planting a cross in front of Native Americans. One last example for why the English, French, and Spanish were not that different from each other when they reached the New World is that the like the Spanish, the English spread a dangerous disease to the Native Americans as well. This is shown in journal entries from the French explorer Jaqcues Cartier in Source 3.

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The Age of Exploration was more of a time of invasion than discovery. The explorers motives alone mostly weren't relevant to discovery. For example, Herman Cortes's motives were only gold and glory, which led to a lot of things that did not include much discovery or learning. Him and his men did end up finding (or discovering) the Aztec people in Cuba, but this voyage didn't lead to a lot other than violence and invasion. Cortes and his men looted and burned as many building and houses as they could, despite being treated with kindness by the Aztec people earlier. The Spanish also spread their diseases to the Aztec people and tried to convert them to Christianity. An account of an Aztec scribe even said “Terror dominated everyone, as if the world had been disemboweled. People fell into a fearful slumber.” However, the Spanish weren't the only ones who treated the people who lived in the New World like this. An account of John Smith’s (an English man) encounter with Natives mentions beating, whipping, and imprisoning Native Americans. There is a painting of the French explorer Jacques Cartier planting a cross in front of Native Americans, which can show how the French attempted to convert them into Christianity like the Spanish did. One last example to support how the European explorers during the Age of Exploration did more invading than discovering is that the English brought their diseases to America and ended up spreading it to Native Americans. In conclusion, even if their intentions were to discover new lands or to learn more about the world, that is not what really occurred. Instead, the Natives were conquered, invaded, enslaved, beat, whipped, deprived of their homes, possession, and maybe even their values as a people all because of the European explorers during the Age of Discovery.