Joseph Liguid

Humanities 101
3 December 2013

The era of expansion and colonialism is most definitely what made the world
what it is today. Perhaps had it not been for those colonials and explorers who
traversed the perils of the ocean to reach new lands, the modern countries we see
on the Americas and even Africa may not exist today. But, underneath the guise of
exploration, adventure, and riches there is a darker truth. What those men did to
bring glory to their countries also brought great stress to the indigenous population
of those regions. Their actions still affect our society today.
This great age of exploration was pushed forward primarily by the
Europeans in the years following 1450. In 1453, the Ottoman Empire captured the
Byzantine capital of Constantinople, renamed it to Istanbul, and in turn blocked
European access to the area. Not only that, but they also blocked access to North
Africa and the Red Sea which were two very important trade routes. So, naturally
the European countries had to find different trade routes to get goods to other parts
of the world. At that time, many explorers lacked the funds and crew to explore
different lands and so they turned to their own governments who would use these
explorers to discover different trade routes. The Portuguese were one of the first
explorers associated with this new age directed by Prince Henry the Navigator. After
that, more explorers went forward like Christopher Columbus, Ferdinand Magellan,
and Captain James Cook. With the explorations, Europe, Africa, and the Americas
were brought into direct contact. Also, through the explorations, maps were more
accurate as explorers mapped out the lands they explore.
Along with the desire for new trade routes came the desire for expansion. As
explorers traveled to new lands they would claim the region in the name of their
country. The countries would colonize the regions for commerce, conquest, and
settlement. For example, the French treated the Native Americans as trading
partners especially with fur. Spain saw them as a labor force. Gradually, Europe
began to settle the New World, bringing with them foreign goods, people, and
disease. The natives of the land were not immune to these diseases of Europe and
those disease killed countless natives.
One of the obvious consequences of this time was the slavery. Even today, the
slave trade still exists. Slavery is still a problem in America 150 years after slavery
was prohibited. In fact, there are about 150,000 to 200,000 slaves in America today
and there are more slaves in the world then there ever was before. When settlers
came to colonize lands, they brought with them foreign fauna and which had
devastating effects on the native species. In some cases, this led to the extinction of
some native species. Settlers also brought along their culture and forced the culture
of the indigenous people. In some cases, the indigenous culture broke down and the
language lost forever. With expansion came conquest. Many native populations
were killed off because of the expansion by foreign countries. The Spanish defeated
the Incas and Aztecs in the Americas. English and French did a lot of damage to the
Native American population. Today, there may be a bit of resentment by
descendants towards the nations that now inhabit the area

The Baroque era was characterized by a sense of florid ornamentation,
spatial grandeur, and theatrical flamboyance. The Baroque style was new style that
dominated the arts of Western Europe in painting, literature, dance, music,
architecture, etc. There was much use of exaggeration and clarity of interpretation
to produce drama, tension, and grandeur in the works. The years during the
Baroque period was filled with much political but mostly religious strife (though
politics were often associated with the church at that time). There was a lot of
reform trying to be done to the Catholic Church. The religious zeal of these
reformers was huge and inspired a surge of artistic expression. This led to the birth
of the Mannerist style of art from which the Baroque style is rooted, or at least the
Italian Baroque. The mystical and evangelical ideals of the Counter-Reformation by
the Catholics became a model by which many churches built their churches. Wide
naves and huge domes became common for churches. This spatial grandeur of
churches is related to the Baroque period. In France, King Louis XIV wanted to
cultivate the arts as an accompaniment to majesty. His ideas of extravagance and
royal absolutism led to the Aristocratic Baroque style. The monarchs used the
extravagance to impress visitors.
When comparing between the 17
th
and 18
th
century Baroque style with the
19
th
century realism, there are many differences. Baroque, as stated before, uses
exaggeration and extravagance to produce a sense of drama and grandeur. Realism
attempts to represent matters truthfully without using artistic thought or
supernatural elements. Baroque dealt much with religion and supernatural
elements in its depictions. Realism dealt more with situations and objects. For
example, the works by Gustave Courbet, a realist artist, like Stone-Breaker and After
Dinner at Ornans, all depict situations in contemporary life and it doesnt produce
that sense of drama. A Baroque painting like Night Watch depicts figures in dramatic
poses. Literature was different too. Baroque literature used much allegories and
dramatic elements and there were underlying themes of disappointment. Don
Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes is an example of a Baroque literature. Realist
literature, however, depicts contemporary life and the society as it was. Authors
wrote about everyday life and experiences.