Europe's Trouble with Colonizing the World

Europe started reaching out to Asia, the Americas, and Africa in 1500 and continued throughout the 1600s, having different reasons for contacting each place. At times, the Europeans were seeking to convert natives to Catholicism. At other times, they set out to explore for want of wealth and trade. Although the Europeans may have been successful in some of their goals, challenges filled their paths. These challenges ranged from culture clash to power struggle, and each civilization they reached out to posed a different problem. The challenges of contact and exchange between Europeans, Asians, Africans, and Indigenous Americans were different because of the uniqueness of each independent culture.

European contact with the Asian cultures was limited because of Asia's isolated mentality and their distance from Europe. Because Asian cultures felt that their products were superior and that all others were inferior, they closed themselves off from the world of trade and exchange (Blainey 255). In doing this, the Europeans had a very slim chance of getting into Asia to have much contact or be able to trade. In Eastern Asia, the Japanese demonstrated a closed way of existing by "expell[ing] nearly all Europeans and kill[ing] many Jesuit and other priests who did not wish to be expelled" (Blainey 255). In doing this, the Japanese showed that they did not want the influence of any foreign religion on their culture. Soon after driving out the European priests, Asian cultures started to ban contact with other societies through trade and made it difficult for outsiders to get in without valid reason. This idea of having to get into Asia instead of being welcomed with open arms was a new and unique challenge for the Europeans that reflected an Asian mindset and way of life and differed from the other places that Europeans encountered.

In Africa, an appeal from King Mbemba of Congo made contact with Africa difficult for the Europeans. This appeal reflected the widespread sentiments of most all Africa's leaders. King Mbemba himself did not approve of the Europeans coming in and taking his people, focusing especially how they choose to do it. In a letter to the King of Portugal, King Mbemba writes of his disapproval of how his men are taken captive "and

Indigenous Americans provided a different challenge to the Europeans with their seemingly unusual society. The culture and naturalistic beliefs of the Native Americans defied the European goal of conversion due to the numerous differences in beliefs. The Indigenous Americans, having settled in the Americas first, naturally resisted to any change in their ways. However, the Europeans remained adamant that the Indigenous Americans be assimilated into their culture. To ensure this would happen, they insisted that one Indian boy in each encomienda who would "be taught to read and write, and also the importance of Catholicism [to teach] the other Indians because the Indians would more readily accept what the boy says than what the Spaniards says" (Bakewell). Converting the Indigenous Americans to Catholicism was difficult because of the language barrier and the stubborn refusal of the Native Americans. Because of these two imposing factors, the Europeans had to overcome a difference of culture to successfully get what they wanted from them.

Challenges hindered the paths of Europeans as they explored other cultures and made contact. Those challenges derived from the specific, unique cultures native to the places of contact. In Asia, the Europeans were met with the confines of an Asian mindset. In Africa, Europeans found a voice of objection from the authoritative African leaders. Finally, the Indigenous Americans inhabiting the areas where Europe wanted to colonize were too set in their ways for the Europeans to have an easy time trying to incorporate them into their English ways of life. Thus, while making contact with Asia, the Americas, and Africa, Europe faced individual challenges that were native to each separate society.