Historical Essay- Written Source Analysis

 In the late eighteenth century, a French philosopher, Abb Raynal offered a prize for the best answer to the question: “Was the discovery of America beneficial or harmful to the human race?” Taking into account Alfred Crosbys The Columbian Exchange, what, in your estimation, is the legacy of 1492(refer to the posted link in Course Content under Required Assignments-Days 3,4,5,6 folder and assigned course material)? What large-scale transformations did European contact generate? Were Columbus voyages a vehicle of progress or did they have a negative impact on the human race? How did expansion shape values and beliefs in both Europe and the Americas? Also, reflect on this quote The history of European empire building and trade in the early modern period is essentially the history of exploitation in pursuit of wealth and luxury goods.” Is this statement a fair assessment of the period? What can those documents (located in class booklet called Thinking through Sources) teach us about the authors home country and the authors attitude toward Native Americans-how indigenous population understood those encounters and how encounters turned to conquests?