There was a time when the edges of maps said, “Here be dragons.”
Then came the explorers — and the dragons disappeared.
From the 15th to 17th centuries,
Europe looked outward — not just with curiosity,
but with ambition.
Portugal and Spain led the charge.
Prince Henry the Navigator funded voyages to Africa’s coasts.
Bartolomeu Dias rounded the Cape of Good Hope.
Vasco da Gama reached India.
Then came Columbus,
believing he’d found Asia,
but instead stumbling upon the Caribbean —
and the beginning of irreversible change.
Soon, ships crossed oceans like highways.
Conquistadors arrived with steel and scripture.
Empires were built — and broken.
New worlds opened.
But so did wounds.
I opened 온라인카지노 while reading a logbook from Magellan’s voyage.
He circumnavigated the globe —
but died before he saw it done.
The Columbian Exchange transformed diets and disease.
Tomatoes, potatoes, tobacco, and smallpox changed continents forever.
Trade routes multiplied.
Sugar plantations, gold mines,
and tragically — the transatlantic slave trade.
Yet with expansion came knowledge.
Maps grew accurate.
Stars were charted.
Navigators became legends.
The printing press spread their stories.
Through 우리카지노, I shared a photo of an antique astrolabe,
captioned: “We once steered by stars.”
The Age of Exploration gave us the globe.
But it also reminds us:
Discovery always comes with cost.