We have come a long way. It seems only a few years ago that the history of the expansion of Europe was used mainly in order to either defend or attack. During the 1940s and 1950s, historians were recruited to defend the thesis that decolonization was wrong and that the expansion of Europe had bestowed many benefits on the colonial world. In fact, in Portugal the demand for such partisan overseas history still existed as recently as the middle of the 1970s. On the other hand, there were an increasing number of historians, economists, sociologists, and anthropologists, who had joined ranks with anti-colonial groups and who used the history of European expansion in order to construct a colonial past full of murder, rape, exploitation, and negative development, "coined" underdevelopment.

          The New World, in the minds and descriptions of European explorers and settlers during the sixteenth century, was comparable to a paradise on earth. The landscape was so vast and indescribably beautiful that even Columbus had trouble articulating its splendor. However, lacking a consciousness of conservation, Europeans felt little remorse in exploiting the land and subjugating its people. From the beginning Europeans set out to transform as much of the New World into the Old World as possible. As a result, the New World, over the course of two centuries, was overtaken by foreign plant and animal species, leveled by deforestation, and devastated by disease. This imposition of Old World values significantly impacted the ecology of the New World.

          One of the main reasons that Europeans were so successful in increasing their numbers in the New World was their ability to distribute and grow native plants in areas where they previously had been unknown (Crosby, 66). Also, many Europeans made large profits from cultivating native plants such as tobacco, cocoa, paprika, American cotton, and sassafras (Crosby, 66). Despite these successes with native plants, true ecological effects of European expansion on the New World during the age of discovery is not revealed unless focus is placed on the large numbers of non native plants that were introduced by European explorers and settlers. The subsequent introduction of European plants brought an end to the unique plant cultures that had existed for thousands of years prior to the discovery of the New World.

          Europe essential idea of such expansion was that it would deliver humanity from itself, from its innate warlike nature, by obviating the need to resolve differences between nation, peoples and races by violent means. Such an idea came into its own following two horrific World Wars and the dropping of the two atomic bombs on Japan. In this wise, each member nation would send a permanent delegation to represent it in the debates over national and international issues.