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Why Did Western Europe Explore and Colonize?
Western Europe—beginning in the 15th century—succeeded in spreading its peoples, languages, and cultures across a greater expanse of the globe than any region in world history. But why exactly did Western Europeans explore and colonize to such an extent? Simply having the capability to explore and colonize doesn’t adequately explain why nations do it. Neither the Romans nor the Chinese felt the need to devote their resources to sea exploration as the Western Europeans did in the 15th and 16th centuries.
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Indian Tribes of the Northwest Coast: An Affluent Anomaly
The Northwestern Indian tribes differed from the tribes in the rest of North America. Rather than live in tepees, wigwams, or pits, these peoples took advantage of the abundance of natural resources they had and built large, comfortable houses of wooden planks. They also built, canoes, totem poles, and elaborate crafts. But perhaps the greatest anomaly of the Northwest Coast Indians is that they achieved such a level of wealth and technological and artistic advancement as hunter-gatherer societies.
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Indian Tribes of the American Northwest
The Indians who lived in today’s northwestern United States represented three distinct cultures based on their geography. The arid, mountainous region of present-day Utah, Nevada, and southern Wyoming make up what archeologists refer to as the Great Basin. The tribes of the Plateau Culture lived directly to the north of this region. Those who lived along the Pacific coast—from northern California to southeastern Alaska—are referred to as the Northwest Coast Culture. These tribes were marked by contrasts in lifestyle, wealth, and power. These contrasts were caused by their different locations, climates, and cultures, which affected transportation costs, disease, and agricultural productivity.
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How Harry Truman Sold the Truman Doctrine and Changed American Foreign Policy
President Harry Truman transformed the scope of America’s foreign policy through superb salesmanship, laden with emotional appeals to the nation’s sense of moral responsibility and collective ego. His speech to Congress, in 1947, urging aid to Greece and Turkey, subtly but sweepingly, shifted American foreign policy to one of interventionism and launched the country into the Cold War.
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How Three of Robert Browning’s Poems Represent the Romantic and Victorian
Browning was a 19th century English poet, who became famous in the latter half of the century. Three of his poems, "My Last Duchess," "The Bishop Orders His Tomb at Saint Praxed’s Church," and "Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came," show considerable influence from both the Romantic and Victorian Ages, which his life spanned.
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Summary of a Basque Nun’s Memoir of her Life as a Conquistador
Lieutenant Nun: Memoir of a Basque Transvestite in the New World is a firsthand account of the cultural aspects of the 17th-century Spanish colonial empire from the perspective of a female conquistador. In this era, a man’s life and honor depended on how well he could handle a sword and how quick he was to use it. As a woman, Erauso has to quickly adapt to this world when she assumes a man’s life.
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Was Henry VIII a Renaissance Monarch?
England made significant literary, political, and cultural strides during Henry VIII's reign. This came largely thanks to the influence of the Renaissance, which Henry and those in his administration adapted to English culture and religiosity.
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Alfred Crosby’s Columbian Exchange: Indian Depopulation and Food Sustainability
The Columbian Exchange was a two-way biological and agricultural exchange. The Europeans and Africans brought Old World airborne diseases to the New World for which the Indians did not have any immunity, which they exchanged for syphilis. The Europeans’ livestock provided much-needed labor and food source in the Americas. In return, the Americas supplied the Eastern Hemisphere with an abundance of agricultural products which would relieve hunger, increase nutrition, and enable a rapid growth spurt in the world’s population.
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Indian Tribes of the American Southwest
The pre-Columbian history of the southwestern United States has been easier to trace than pre-columbian history of other regions. In this article, I’ll cover the four main ethnicities of Indians who inhabited the Southwest in the period immediately before European discovery. They included the Anasazi (Pueblos), the Hohokams, the Yumans, and the Athapascans—which include the Navajo and Apache.
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Why Do We Associate Turkey With Thanksgiving?
When we think of the modern American Thanksgiving, we often think of football. But nothing defines the holiday’s tradition like family gatherings around stuffed turkey. But what ties this meat so strongly to Thanksgiving?
