For a person to cross the Atlantic Ocean was no small feat in the 16th century, as with the first English colony of . It would be a journey of many days and a one which could lead to death very easily. Nevertheless, the Europeans finally arrived and realized that the local populace was far beneath them technologically and thus easily dominated. In pre-contact America, the height of native travel technology was the canoe. If it was an overland journey, they would walk. During the period of European dominance, the Europeans were constantly vying for control of a larger piece of the Americas, so new technologies and improvements to existing technologies were quite common. The boats that the had arrived with in 1492 were vastly inferior to those of 1700.

In the beginning of the 15th century, the Western Hemisphere was completely unknown and isolated. By the end of the 18th century, it had established itself as a region of great economic value with land for crops, which Europe lacked, and a great wealth of natural resources such as precious metals, furs, and lumber. This transition from unknown lands to the center of global attention happened at the expense of the eventually, the native population. European powers moved into this new land and brought with them and superior technologies that quickly established them as the undisputed masters of this new land, with the natives enslaved or dead (see related class work for more info). In our times, the Americas are still plagued with issues involving the rights of

In pre-Colombian America, the wheel did not exist. Things like cannons, guns, and castles were beyond the imagination. The natives used whatever worked and did not really try to improve on existing technologies. There was a feeling that if it is good enough for my father, it is good enough for me in contrast to the European haste to improve on everything and make life easier. The arrival of the Europeans brought the European sense of technology (in addition to the the Europeans had that the natives did not) and the necessity for improvement. Every advance that happened in Europe was carried over to the Americas by the next wave of colonists. When a technological advance happened in the Americas, it was brought back to Europe by traders. During this massive overhaul of the native methods, we could have lost many methods which were superior to our own. However, it is undeniable that Europe's technology contributed to the rise of this region.