Blog #6

The Discovery Of America

Most people are familiar with Christopher Columbus and the discovery of America.  We all know the Indians were in America first and the Europeans came over and basically wiped them out.  However, I don't think people realize how bad it really was.  The Europeans caused the Great Dying (which is a term I was not familiar with).  Approximately 90% of the Native Population died.  These deaths were caused by diseases the Europeans over, murder, starvation, etc...  The Europeans claimed they were doing this in the name of God.  The Europeans wanted to expand their empire and to do this they needed land.  Once they came to America and saw the opportunity they went full force. 

I have always been fascinated by the Enlightenment Era.  I find the idea behind it interesting.  The central theme of Enlightenment is progress.  Tradition had little influence over the Enlightenment ideals.  Reason and education were the most important factors.  It was about forming new ideas and new ways of looking at social and political situations.  I think the era progressed the world (especially America) a great deal.  If we didn't have these Enlightenment ideals implemented into the foundation of our country we wouldn't be able to adapt to new ideas or changes.  Every person/country should aim for progress.  The times have changed so much over the last 100's of years, even the last 50 years!  With the ability to look forward we would never be able to succeed.