Confrontation of Cultures Question Answers: NCERT Class 11 History - Themes in World History

1. The invention of magnetic compass in 1380 CE helped in searching and identifying four cardinal directions. These directions were North, South, East and West.
 

2. Manufacturing of sailing sea helped the sailors to sail much safer and comfortable. Larger ships were built which could carry a large quantity of cargo.

3. The Travelogue of Marco Polo also helped a lot in European navigation and created wide interest among the people.

4. Travel literature and books on geography were also available.

1. The rulers of both Spain and Portugal had passion for acquiring wealth in the form of gold and treasure for glory and titles.

2. They also wanted to establish colonies in the regions.

3. The Christian Missionaries wanted to venture across the Atlantic.

4. Many Christians wanted to bring people of other lands into the fold of Christianity.

The food items which wore transmitted from South America to the rest of the world were as follows:
1. Cacao
2. Potatoes
3. Tobacco
4. Cane sugar                                                                                                        5. Chillies
6. Rubber
7. Sugar

Peter, a boy of seventeen, was being taken to brazil as a slave, far away kitaisa, a small village in Africa. Peter had been on a sea voyage before. He was afraid and frightened thinking about his fate. He was aware of the condition of the slaves abroad. He had seen many of his friends and family being captured and sent to American and never had he seen them return. What had become of them, did they survive the harsh condition of the mines and plantations where they had been working or had they succumbed to the extreme torture? he pondered upon such Questions as he looked around himself and saw others like him shackled in heavy iron chains. Packed below the deck of the ship like animals, he could not even get to see the sunlight. All slaves were packed so close to one another that they could not reach the toilet buckets. Thus, they lay in their own filth. The dark, damp and filthy deck made peter sick. He wished he could just run away to the safety of his home. However, there was no relief for him. The violent strom instead increased the time of the voyage from the usual six weeks to thirteen weeks. The terrified faces of panic and fear and the cries of the women and children made him feel more ill. Some slaves did try to resist but were beaten badly. The terror of the Americans resisted any slave to rise future. When the thirteen days voyage came to an end, peter had grown weak. Yet, he survived to endure worse in his days as a slave.

European countries, especially Spain and Portugal were greedy for gold and silver. It was their expectation that a heavy quantity of gold was available in South America. So, they settled in different regions. International trade and industrialization expanded in the region. They established their rule with the help of military strength. But local people resisted it. But the Spaniards suppressed their resistance. The merchants brought a variety of products to the Europeans such as tobacco, potatoes, sugarcane, cacao and rubber. Europe also became familiar with new crops from America, notably potatoes and chillies. The merchants formed joint stock companies and sent out trading expeditions. Profit was the main objective. The newly discovered land earned huge wealth. It also gave an impetus to the revolution. Thus it can be said that the discovery of South America led to the development to European colonialism.