First Encounters

• Accounts of Exploration and Exploitation

Miscommunication

One of the first men to communicate with Columbus cut his hand on Columbus's sword because he didn't know what a sword was

Motivations for Coming to the Americas

• a desire for fame and adventure

• to find great riches

• a shortcut to China & India where spices, silks, gold and other luxuries were already found

• to spread Christianity

• Religious freedom

Love God or Die

• People who were not Christian had to be converted by persuasion or force... by the Protestants and Catholics

• Those who rejected Christianity were considered enemies of God and would be enslaved or killed

Other Ugly Truths

• Slavery was commonplace all around the world and widely accepted by all religion

• Enslaved Africans accompanied most of the Spanish & Portuguese explorers in the Americas

• Because Indians were too susceptible to European diseases and harsh treatment, Africans took their place

• "The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano" reveals the harsh truths and terror aboard slave ships