The Age of Exploration was an era where wealthy Europeans travelled to the New World to establish colonies for their mother country, and a time of competition and tension between many of these European countries. They made discoveries essential 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 the development of modern life, they should not be glorified because while attempting to establish colonies, they deprived the natives of their religious freedom, was relentlessly and unnecessarily violent, and spread their diseases. To begin, it is necessary to speak of the obvious deprivation of religious freedom. Different groups of …show more content…
For one thing, some Europeans are said to be unable to get along with the natives, even those who did not fight with them. They were often killed off even before communication was even attempted. Bartolomé de las Casas, a sixteenth century historian, recalls that “The Spaniards killed and terrorized the native peoples in order to gain more gold and to make themselves richer...the Spaniards began to carry out massacres and strange cruelties against Indians” (Document 10). Yet another example of this was the treatment of natives in the Encomienda System. This system, put in place in the 1600’s, allowed Spain to tax natives in specific areas, as well as forcing them to work for the Spanish. The Spanish people did not view the Natives as equals, they acted towards them in a violent and disrespectful manner. “The Spanish landowners forced the Indians to farm the land or work in mines...Thousands of Indians died from overwork and harsh treatment” (Document 8). The Europeans exploited the natives and their resources, acting violent in many scenarios were violence was not