How Explorers Saw the New World

Collision of Two Worlds

Christopher Columbus, Hernan Cortes and Bernal Diaz all wrote very positive and glowing reports about the New World, which seem to have been in conflict with some of the harsh realities that they certainly encountered when they came to the New World. However, the fact that their glowing reports omitted some of the harsher aspects of their "discoveries" does not imply that any of these men were being dishonest. On the contrary, what it does do is highlight the role that these men played in their respective positions. They were not explorers, though they have come to be known as explorers to modern people. Instead, these men were each tasked to complete very specific tasks for the governments for whom they worked. Columbus was given the task of finding an overseas trade route with the East. Cortes went to discover the wealth of the Aztec empire. Diaz was a soldier who was sent with Cortes to help secure wealth and protect the conquistador from any hostile people that he may have encountered. The positive attributes of their observations about the New World are all directly linked to the role that each of the men played for the governments.

Columbus was sent to find a route to the East, and, in that regard, he failed miserably. However, the purpose of finding a route to the East was to make trade between Europe and the East easier. When Columbus encountered the New World, he discovered not only a land with vast riches, but also a land that was untapped as a trading partner. Unlike the competition that his government would face in established trading places in the East, they had the opportunity to establish exclusive trading relationships with the people in the New World. In addition, the people seemed open, friendly, and completely unfamiliar with Europeans, which must have seemed like it would give Columbus an advantage in trading.

Cortes was sent specifically in search of wealth, and he found significant wealth when he encountered the Aztecs. In fact, Moctezuma sent gifts of gold to him as way of trying to encourage him to leave. However, Cortes was immediately aware of the fact that, if Moctezuma had enough gold to send huge gifts of it to arriving strangers, then there had to be significant amounts of gold available. Because he was sent to find wealth, the confirmation that there was significant wealth to find would have colored his reports and made him very optimistic about the New World.