Is Exploration a Good Thing?

Is exploration a good thing? It depends on how you interpret it. There has been exploration that discovers new worlds and those that have spread diseases from one country to another. There have been explorers like Christopher Columbus and Lewis and Clarke. Those explorers were looking for land but there have also been explorers that have caused mayhem and they explored for the wrong reasons. Francisco Pizarro was a Conquistador from Spain that brought small pox to North America in 1533(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incas).

            Exploration is “The investigation of unknown regions.”(http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/Exploration)  Christopher Columbus was an Italian navigator who lived from 1451 to 1506. His voyage and exploration across the Atlantic Ocean led to European awareness of the American continents. Columbus “initiated the process of Spanish colonization which foreshadowed general European colonization of the ‘New World’.” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Columbus)  Columbus introduced the European culture into the Native American Culture of North America. From the Native’s hunting and gathering culture to the European’s Economy and structure, they made what we know as America today. Lewis and Clark’s job was to explore the unknown of the west in 1804. Along with Sacagawea they discovered that the west was occupied by many different tribes, but they had successfully gained understanding of the west. Lewis began writing in a journal and his first entry was this: "Left Pittsburg this day at 11 o'clock with a party of 11 hands 7 of which are soldiers, a pilot and three young men on trial they having proposed to go with me throughout the voyage."(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewis_and_Clark_Expedition) This Expedition was the reason why we are spread to places like California and Oregon. Due to this we developed the Oregon Trail which helped the pilgrims travel across the country by wagon. Thanks to Exploration we have new land, new hope, and a whole new life.

            “The Inca civilization (or Inka civilization) began as a tribe in the Cuzco area, where the legendary first Sapa Inca, Manco Capac founded the Kingdom of Cuzco around 1200.” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incas) They kept quiet and had their own system of classes and a king. They were a much evolved civilization until the Spanyards visited America and brought one of the deadliest diseases to visit the Americas. They brought small pox. A slave on one of the ships was carrying it and since small pox had already hit Spain so they are immune to the disease. Since they visited the village they brought the disease with them and it wiped out the entire population. They were fighting them in a small war and they wanted the gold in the civilization. This ended in the wiping out of the Incas and the transfer of smallpox was the first example of biological warfare. Sue to the exploration of the society they caused deaths and encouraged biological warfare.

            Exploration is good and bad and it can help and destroy societies. Exploring is one of the things that humans do and it goes along with our curiosity. We found the new world and we destroyed not to long after. Exploration has positive and negative factors that go along with it ut in the end it happens by choice. When you look around you will find and when you find you discover. That is the whole point behind exploring different areas and new regions. Just make sure you know what you’re doing.

CITATIONS:

·         "Inca Civilization." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 10 May 2010. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incas >.

·         "Christopher Columbus." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 09 May 2010.<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Columbus>

·         "Lewis and Clark Expedition." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 09 May 2010.<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewis_and_Clark_Expedition>

What do you Think? Different thinking Among Social Classes

What you think is based on your values and life experiences. These values and experiences are formed by your upbringing, your education, your environment, and influences of your social groups. Very strict social classes in the Middle Ages resulted in distinct ways of thinking within the four levels of the social pyramid; the nobility, the merchants, the clergy and the peasants.

The nobility believed in divine right to rule, with the King being granted that right by God, passing the title on to his heirs. The King appointed members of the noble class, granted them fiefs, and they in turn, pledged homage and fealty to the King, before God and in a written charter. This feudal system was used for lesser nobles as well, with all but the King owing allegiance to the nobleman above him. This upper class thought they were superior to the ones below, and expected them to serve all of their needs to include making their clothes and dressing them, growing their food and cooking for them, and producing any goods or service they needed to carry out their daily lives. In exchange, the nobles offered protection and security. Nobles were trained as knights from an early age, and they protected the lord’s lands from invaders and fought in their battles. The lords also provided their people the basics they needed to live; food, clothing, and shelter, although all were meager compared to the luxuries the nobles enjoyed. The people were also heavily taxed. The noble class formed the government and legal system for those people living on their lands, so the lower classes thoughts and opinions of the fairness of this system did not count. The nobility were the entitled class, being better educated, having better clothes and food, with free time for hunting and falconry.

The merchants were the middle class of the feudal society in the Middle Ages.They lived in towns producing goods and services for the nobility, and were organized into guilds that regulated training, wages, pricing and competition, and quality of goods. The merchants lived in buildings whose first floor served as their shops where they could sell their wares, but they were heavily taxed by the lords. They were free people, permitted to travel when trading or selling commodities, but journeys to foreign lands were dangerous due to bad weather and pirates.The merchants were skilled workers who were masters at their crafts, but they were not permitted to rise to the social level of the nobility, regardless of their success in their field. The middle class no doubt thought about the lack of opportunities for advancement, and resented the nobility’s privileges due to birthright, but were probably too busy working to get by, providing for their families, supplying the upper class, and paying taxes to dwell on what they could never have.

The clergy were a class unto themselves in the Middle Ages, with their own hierarchy. The Pope, due to his powers of excommunication, was an influential person in society.Everyone in medieval times from the king to the serfs were Christian, attended church regularly, and were God-fearing people, as stated in the Canterbury Tales, “For though Fortune may noon aungel dere, from heigh degree yet fel he for his synne, doun into helle, where he yet is inne”(http://www.canterburytales.org/canterbury_tales.html). Since religion was so important, so was the Church. The arch-bishops and bishops were on par with nobility, and were often involved in politics and government in Europe.The Church charged taxes of all the people for their salvation, and accepted gifts as well. The local abbeys were run by abbots and occupied by monks, and often owed some type of feudal obligation to lord of the manor.Medieval monastery life consisted of a routine of eight daily services, Bible reading, prayer and meditation, and manual labor keeping up the monastery. A Medieval monastery also copied manuscripts and performed works of charity and healing and religious education and training for boys. Monks were devoted to God, and their day was spent thinking about how they could better serve Him and his children.

The lower class in the

Middle Ages were the peasants, the majority of which were serfs who belonged to the land they lived on, and thus the lord who owned that land. Serfs had no political rights, paid taxes and fees to the manor and the Church, and were expected to do any and all work as needed.Many were farmers working the land granted by the lord to support their families, with a percentage of the food or animals they raised going back to the manor. Their thoughts were of survival and they prayed for good health, good weather, and good harvests. They could be traded with the land they lived on, as serfs were property. Those transferred to monasteries saw themselves as fortunate, since they were granted rights of possession and disposal of their goods, and generally were treated more humanely. Being a serf was the hardest life of all of the members of the social classes, and this group had the most right to be resentful of their position in life. Their only hope was to escape to a town, where if they could live undetected for a year and a day, they could stay and train to be a craftsman or merchant.

The nobility, the merchants, the clergy and the peasants had very different lives in the Middle Ages, and therefore very different thoughts. The caste system dictated their thoughts in many ways, as they were born into their positions in life, and most of their life experiences were chosen for them based on their social class.

"Chaucer's Canterbury Tales ~ Presented by ELF." Chaucer's Canterbury Tales ~ Presented by The Electronic Literature Foundation. Web. 30 Apr. 2010. (http://www.canterburytales.org/canterbury_tales.html.)

"Guilds". Web. 30 Apr. 2010. (http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/history/middleages/guilds.html).

"Knighthood". Web. 30 Apr. 2010. (http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/history/middleages/knighthood.html).

“Medieval Monastery.” The Middle Ages Website. Web. 30 Apr. 2010. (http://www.middle-ages.org.uk/medieval-monastery.htm).

"Noble Life". Web. 30 Apr. 2010. (http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/history/middleages/nlife.html).

"The Feudal Structure of the Medieval World ." Medieval Fiefdom Website. Library Thinkquest, April 2007. Web. 23 Apr 2010.(http://library.thinkquest.org/10949/fief/hifeudal.html)

"Travel and Trade". Web. 30 Apr. 2010. (http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/history/middleages/trade.html).

Photos from Wikimedia Commons:

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Scriptorium.jpg

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Rondel_dagger_merchants.jpg

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Medieval_peasant_meal.jpg

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tournament_bavarian_engraving.png