“Did the Age of Exploration bring more harm than good? For the indigenous inhabitants of the Americas, the potential benefits of contact with other peoples were far outweighed by the brutality of European conquest and colonization, and the ravages of European diseases that cut a swathe through the populations...

For [Africans], the Age of Exploration undoubtedly brought more harm than good.

For many Europeans, the answer was more often favourable...

… The Age of Exploration provided opportunities for societies and cultures to interact; it brought all parts of the world into contact with each other, paving the way for the globalized economies we see today; it enabled a knowledge network to extend across the whole globe. In a sense, our modern world is built on the back of the changes introduced by the European Age of Exploration – so it becomes a question of judgment on the modern world.”

Explain ONE specific historical example that corroborates Margaret Small’s argument concerning Europeans ca. 1450 - 1750 CE.