st explorersof all time. Like every other explorer, Columbus had many reasons forhis exploration.
However, it is made obvious by studying the historyof Columbus’ explorations that his main motive for exploration wasgreed. Columbus had the same desires as many explorers both before andafter him. He yearned for gold. He wanted land.
He wanted power. Thewhole purpose for his first voyage to what he thought was India, butturned out to be Central America, was to gain land for Spain. It tookquite a bit of sweet talking from Columbus to get the money and shipsneeded for this voyage from Spain’s Queen Isabella. But in the end,Columbus had the chance to reach a goal brought on by greed: to gainriches. Queen Isabella had the same motive. She wanted land for Spain,and that is the only reason that she ever gave him the money and shipsto make his voyage.
The English, like other countries, voyaged to the Americas insearch of riches. It wasn’t until they got there that they realizedthat people already lived there. It was at that point that greed tookover the English. The English did something, that by today’s standardswould be considered inhuman.
They used a method of mass murder calledextermination. They used whatever it took to kill the most NativeAmericans possible in the smallest amount of time. The English wouldnot have done this had it not been for extreme greed. They wanted theland that the Native Americans had and they wanted it as soon aspossible. This greed among the English did accomplish their task oftaking land quickly, but it also accomplished the murder of thousandsof Native Americans.
Although it doesn’t seem obvious at first thought, new laws inEurope helped with the effort in nation building. With the new lawswere the guidelines as to were the laws were in effect. Often, a newlaw included a new area of land. This meant that with each new law aking put forth, theoretically, he could gain more land.
A newer set oflaws that were not made law by the king, took power from the king andsaid that he did not have total control. This set of laws, the MagnaCarta, is perhaps the most famous set of written laws ever. With the decline of feudalism came the development ofmonarchies. A monarchy, form of government in which one person hasthe hereditary right to rule as head of state during his or herlifetime, usually presents the chance for nation building. A greedyking or queen can, if they have the forces needed, build their nationquickly and effectively.
Just like everyone and everything else, themonarch always had a reason for nation building. Nine times out often, that reason was greed. The king wanted more people to tax. Theking wanted more land.
The king wanted more trade routes to tax. Allof these are a part of greed. The king (or queen) wanted somethingthat they didn’t need and they were willing to do almost anything toget it. Fight a war.
Kill a thousand people. The phrase ‘Whatever ittakes’ meant the world to a monarch. Greed. Whether it was colonization, as with Queen Isabella andChristopher, or it was nation building, greed was the motive behind itnine times out of ten.
Christopher Columbus tried for years to make avoyage to what he thought was India, and he was so diligent because hewas greedy. The English murdered thousands upon thousands of peoplebecause they wanted the land belonging to the Native Americans all tothemselves. These are two very good examples of greed withincolonization. A king wants more land, but he doesn’t want a war. Howdoes he get it? Why, he just thinks of some new ridiculous law thatwill have no effect other than to give him more land.
The end offeudalism : not only the end of a great period of history, but alsothe beginning to the major development of one of the most influentialtypes of government ever: the monarchy. The monarchy would prove to bea major force behind the building of many nations for decades. Greedamong rulers was the strongest relationship between colonization andnation building. Is this fact? No, but I would like to see someoneeffectively argue against it. .
