Social Hierarchies Between 1492 To 1750

583 Words3 Pages
The period of 1492 to 1750 offered both the old world and the new world an era of rising independence and connection. During this phase in world history, the Europeans dominated world travel, and by doing so, established colonies in the Americas and also inflamed the African slave trade. As a result of this global domination, the relations focused mainly on Western Europe, the Americas, and Africa. Because of the connection between the three regions of the world, their respective economies developed and drastically changed them from where they were before. The some existing social structures became distorted, others remained constant, and new social structures became apparent as another effect of the new worldwide connection. Changes…show more content…
For example, in the Americas, the Spanish and Portuguese left a sharp influence on the colonists’ lifestyles. Those that were natively born on the Iberian Peninsula (called the peninsulares) had the highest social status, while those descended from native Iberians (Creoles) were just below them on the social totem pole. Those that were of mixed heritage of any kind, such as mestizos, zambos, or of African/native descent ranked the lowest in the new social order. Because of the forced integration of many of the natives, the social structure changed from their tribal configuration to that of a European arrangement. Likewise, in Africa, the social structure changed as a result of the invading Europeans. During the slave trades, the Europeans wanted only the African males, leaving behind a significant amount of women, upsetting the gender ratio, forcing many societies to be subject to female authority. Because of this huge demand for male workers, many Africans fought wars over male slaves so their society could continue to stimulate their new found piece of the global market. Since Europe’s economy has been steady because of the control they have over the global market, not much has changed in the social pyramid of the

More about Social Hierarchies Between 1492 To 1750

Open Document