The Age of Exploration was an era where wealthy Europeans travelled to the New World to establish colonies for their mother country. They made discoveries crucial to life as it is known today; however, some of these revelations were only made because of questionable choices. These choices are unacceptable based on modern ideals. While the achievements European explorers made during the Age of Exploration were essential to modern life, they should not be glorified, as their actions resulted in the deprivation of the natives’ religious freedom, were relentlessly and unnecessarily violent, and spread deadly European diseases. To begin, it is necessary to speak of the obvious deprivation of religious freedom. Different groups of Europeans blatantly disregarded the Natives’ …show more content…
Spreading culture is not wrong; the issue with Cortés’ actions was that he forced religion instead of simply provide the opportunity to convert. He disrespected and angered the natives by destroying their sacred temples and other religious statues (Document 2). As for this course of action, it is quite ironic as several different groups of Europeans came to the New World seeking the religious freedom being denied. An additional example of the push to spread Christianity was through the execution of Chief Hatuey of the Tiano tribe. Hatuey was sentenced to death for rebelling against the invading Spaniards. Even moments before his death, the Spanish were attempting to convert him instead of realizing his opinions weren’t going to change. In fact, Hatuey is so firm in his beliefs that, upon hearing that baptized Spaniards would go to Heaven, he responds “‘If the Spaniards go to heaven, then I certainly do not want to go there. Do not baptize me, I would prefer to go to hell!’” (Document 9) The enmity between the two groups was clearly evident. Even further, some documents reflecting on the Europeans