The Columbian Exchange Between 1492 and 1750, there were many drastic demographic and environmental effects of the Columbian Exchange on the Americas and Europe. The bringing of new diseases impacted both of these regions influencing their populations, affecting the Americas more when smallpox was brought by the European explorers. Also demographically was the establishment of silver mines and sugar plantations causing new labor systems directed by the Europeans. Agricultural goods also had a lasting impact with the Americas being introduced to sugar and domesticated animals as well as Europe being introduced to new crops with the Columbian Exchange. With the trading of the Columbian Exchange, diseases were increasing and affecting both the Americas and Europe.
Imported diseases took the worst tolls in less populated areas like the Aztec and Inca empires. These diseases were so easily transmissible that they hit areas before the first European explorers even arrived in the areas. When the epidemic diseases finally arrived in the Pacific islands, it had the same terrifying affects as the Americas. When it came to food and crops, the Columbian exchange increased the human population because of the spread of food crops and animals that it sponsored. A nourished world was an important factor in the growth of the world’s population, which began in the 18th century.
Western Europe, Africa and the Americas underwent major changes due to the contact with the Atlantic world. These changes occurred from 1492 until 1750 and affected these areas socially and economically. New products and ideas were introduced into the world of trade. Lasting connections would also be made during this period. Western Europe experienced the largest amount of changes because the main countries that were becoming involved in international trade were located here.
The printing press, by Gutenberg, has grown immensely since the 15th century. It went from being in a few towns in present day Germany to almost all over Europe in a matter of 30 years (Doc. 2). Although the printing press was such a revolutionary achievement, the most important consequences were the dissemination of the words and ideas of the people and educating more citizens. Also it began to stir up conflicts among the beliefs of the churches over time.
Slavery was such a vital part in the cultivation of cash crops such as sugarcane that it was introduced to North America with its colonization. The availability of land combined with the growing demand of sugarcane in Europe quickly created an insatiable demand for African slaves, whom, by happenstance, tended to be suited well for work in the warm and tropical environments of the Americas. These Africans at first became indentured servants; nevertheless, the growing arrogance of the white man in his spiritual superiority and the need for even more labor led to the swift decline of the indentured servant. When other alternatives to slavery such as cheap white labor and convict laborers failed to deliver the desired results, the prevalent abstraction of a racially-based slave system finally emerged in the 1680’s. Furthermore, slave uprisings would also play a role in the shaping of the structure of slavery.
Andy Bartlett 11-19-06 DBQ Imperialism in Africa In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries European imperialism caused its countries to divide up the rest of the world, each country claiming bits as its own. Due to its large amounts of resources, Africa was one of the main areas in which European nations established colonies. Imperialism in Africa had both positive and negative results for not only the Africans in the colonies, but the European colonizers as well. Some positive effects on Africans were that they were provided with security by their ruler and new technology was brought to them. Some negative effects from them were the Africans loss of freedom, slavery, the loss of their land and natural resources to the colonizer, and a decrease in African nationalism.
The Columbian Exchange greatly affected almost every society on Earth. New diseases introduced by Europeans, to which the indigenous peoples of the Americas had no immunity, depopulated many cultures. Data for the pre-Columbian population in the Americas is uncertain, but estimates of its disease-induced population losses between 1500 and 1650 range between 50 and 90 percent. [1] On the other hand, the contact between the two areas circulated a wide variety of new crops and livestock which supported increases in population in both hemispheres. Explorers returned to Europe with maize, potatoes, and tomatoes, which became very important crops in Eurasia by the 18th century.
They would give them items such as alcohol, guns, textiles, metal tools, and pots in return for the elite furs. As the demand for furs rose, they began to corrupt the nature of animals that the Indians followed. Unknowingly the French also killed many natives through illness; the goods that the French offered to the natives carried diseases and led to the death of many Indians because of their lack of immunity. The relationship between the Spanish colonists and the Indians was a callous one and only benefited the Spanish. In the 1500s, the Spanish arrived in the New World with the intent to convert natives to Catholicism, trade, and discover riches.
As the colonists came to the New World this opened up numerous opportunities. The New World was like a fresh slate from Europe for the colonists because they could form it into anything they wanted too. It gave them a fresh start. The new colonies that they formed were divided into the New England colonies, Middle Colonies and Southern colonies. So what exactly shaped this wonderful New World that the colonists were living in during this time in the colonies?
One effect was they both shared was being connected globally to other places around the world and interacting with them. However the two continents had a much more different effects than shared ones. In Africa, the Atlantic slave trade cause major disruption between different groups of people which resulted in a lot of violence and civil war. The Europeans, because of what they were earning, were able to expand their middle class so that their social system was not secular. African groups of people were also split up into kingships and because so many of them were being imported to Europe they brought their type of community wight hem when they were traded, one can see that the slaves definitely form something similar to these types of groups when they were settled down.