Is Exploration a 'Good' Thing?

Throughout time, people have been exploring the world. Whether discovering large land masses such as North America, or discovering small islands such as those of Hawaii. So this brings up a question. Is exploration necessarily a good thing? Why change things as they are by exploring into new places? Exploration is overall a good thing, but sometimes it can cause damage to an original culture.

            A good example of this was when Europeans explored North America for the first time. It was a good thing because of what the area has evolved into today, but a bad thing because of what happened to the people native to that area. Native Americans, or ‘Indians” as they are sometimes called, were pushed back farther and farther from their land, until the area that they were forced to live in became an extremely tiny area.

Today, Native Americans can live in peace on reservations, but the area on their reservations is still much too small. The Native American culture is also in danger, not only because of the reservations area mass, but because some Native Americans embrace the cultures of today, forgetting about the lives that their ancestors lived. Some are even ashamed to talk about or show their Native American heritage, making it disappear even faster. So, in this case, exploration was not a good thing, because it hurt the Native Americans and their culture.

However, exploration into the New World was not only a bad thing. A lot of good came out of this, as it created the country of the United States as it is today. The United States is one of the best countries in the world to live in, and many people migrate here to live lives better than they could live in a different country. The United States has free religion, many job opportunities, and fantastic education and services. In this country, one can go extremely far, and the future may look a lot brighter here than in other places. If the Europeans had not explored this country like they did, perhaps others would have gained control over the territory, and would have made the country into something that would not have been as successful of a country as it is now.

Another good example of this was the Renaissance. However, the Renaissance was a different type of exploring. Instead of exploration of the world, the Renaissance was an exploration of culture. One of the most important people of this time period was a painter and sculptor from Florence named Leonardo da Vinci. Da Vinci studied a variety of things, from drawing, to arithmetic, to music. He often confused his teachers, because of the questions he would ask and the points that he would make during a lesson. (http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/vasari1.html)

Leonardo explored ideas for new inventions, things that could help move through mountains, lift heavy weights, and empty harbors. Leonardo also explored the human body, and was able to study it in depth in the first legal autopsy of the time. This was an unheard of thing to do, as the Church ruled it as immoral. (http://ht.ly/1Kahy) However, the curious Leonardo never let anything stop him from studying what he was interested in. Without his work from then, perhaps we may have not been able to make such incredible leaps in science today.

Leonardo’s work was some of the finest and most incredible work of his time, and Leonardo seemed to be much more advanced than the era he was living in. With all of the things that he studied, and all of the things that he created, Leonardo was an incredible genius. He was one man who was not afraid to explore, and the world only benefited from this. This proves that exploration is a good thing, as it can lead to many more good events as a result. If people are afraid to explore like Leonardo, then there is no hope to make advances in science, math, and the arts. We just have to hope that geniuses of today are not afraid to show what they can do and what they know.

Web Citations:
1. "Medieval Sourcebook: Giorgio Vasari: Life of Leonardo Da Vinci 1550." FORDHAM.EDU. Web. 15 May 2010. . http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/vasari1.html 

2. "The Metropolitan Museum of Art - Special Exhibitions." Ow.ly - Shorten Urls, Share Files and Track Visits - Owly. Web. 15 May 2010. . http://ht.ly/1Kahy

Image: http://www.metmuseum.org/special/Leonardo_Master_Draftsman/images/Cat.58R.R.jpg