Effects Of European Exploration On Europe, Africa, And The Americas

What many people only know about Christopher Columbus’s expedition is that he found the Americas. While this is true, he did find a completely new frontier that was unknown to the Old World, his findings re-shaped global consumption patterns from the seventeenth century. He found a New World filled with resources that the old world hasn’t seen before. When he found the new world he brought with him European plants and animal species that were foreign to the citizens of the New World. The Columbian Exchange introduced many foods that are still essential to consumption in today’s world along with the seventeenth to nineteenth centuries. The potato is a prime example of how the Columbian Exchange changed global consumption patterns because it was nutritious and had an abundant amount of calories in it and caused a mass population increase in areas where the potato was available. The use of slaves also increased exponentially when sugar cane was introduced. This was a very cheap, productive way to produce a large amount of sugar and it was used by many Old World countries. The findings of these new world products created a rise in global consumption and production because products were introduced to the both the New World and the Old World and there instantly became a large spike in the availability of products. Along with this, the old world decided to go out and get themselves involved in the New World because they saw an opportunity

It has been thought for many years that the Americas were a vastly unpopulated land until Columbus came. However new evidence disputes this previously thought notion. Archeologist, who have been studying the remains of Native American culture, have found evidence suggesting that the Indians were in the Americas for much longer and in greater numbers than what was believed. This new evidence shows us the impact the Europeans had on the New World and gives us insight into what the Americas were like before the Europeans and what they may have been had the Europeans never settled here.

Age Of Exploration: DBQ Throughout the course of history, a civilization may gain benefit from the demolition of another. This course of action was the driving force of the Age of Exploration. What the Spanish called ‘discovery’ was really the downfall and destruction of a thriving civilization, only to be rebuilt for the use of trans-continental trade in the form of colonization. The survivors would be enslaved and their neighbors would soon follow. The Age of Exploration can be remembered as a time of new discovery, trade, and prosperity, but only the Europeans experienced the brighter side of things.

The Age of Exploration contains both benefits and harms to the groups of people, animals, and land that is associated. The damaging effects of the Age of Exploration were directed, for the most part, upon the people and land of the New World. With the treasure and innovation brought by Europeans in their ships were the

The New World received new crops from the Old World such as wheat, sugar, rice, and coffee. When Columbus brought over sugar, it happened to thrive in the warm Caribbean climate. This lead to an increase in consumption of sugar in Europe which consequently created an influx of African slaves to work the fields and sugar mills in the New World. Corn, potatoes, tobacco, and chocolate are just a few of the many foods to be brought into the Old World. It was the food for the Old World that was the most valuable exchange, as it would change both their economy and diet as well as continue to feed their ever-growing population.While some plants made a change for the better, some created an even bigger problem. Crops, such as a sweet potato, generated an even bigger loss from

The spread to new areas of the world introduced new products and natural resources to Europe that weren’t available before

Maritime advances of the 1500s made Western Europe’s ambitions for global trade feasible and thus gave birth to Europe’s Age of Exploration. Through the combined use of caravels, compasses, and astrolabes, Europeans stumbled upon commodities in foreign lands known as “drug foods”. Consequently, this introduction would have a lasting impact on the Europeans, they became drug addicts. Furthermore, this addiction, the demand for these drugs, became permanently embedded into European culture. To please an everlasting demand, Europeans had to decide on how to frugally acquire these commodities. The decision taken was one of regarding profit over ethics. Moreover, this decision not only impacted the culture and economy of the exploiters,

1. What role did Africa play in the world trade system prior to Columbus’s famous voyages? Prior to Columbus’s famous voyages, Africa played an important role in the Afroeurasian trade system. Africa developed many large empires by 1450.

Europeans explored and settled in the Americas all throughout the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries, and were generally successful. Although there were a number of factors that contributed to European successes in the New World, biological exchange was foremost. Biological exchange was the most significant force behind Europeans’ success in the Americas because it helped Europeans to wipe out Native American peoples, both physically and culturally, and to introduce European practices and resources that would help Europeans to flourish in the New World.

European expansion during the 16th and 17th century was considered an “assault” on the non-European world because of the number of negative effects that European presence caused. The first major effect was the African slave trade, which had a negative impact on the indigenous people. The need for laborers increase and since the Native Americans fell susceptible to disease; the Europeans went to Africa for their workers. According to the first presentation, Europe’s Assault on the World, “The most tragic and reprehensible impact of European expansion was the revival of slavery, which had all but disappeared from Europe by the year 1000.” (Slide 17). Another negative effect that European expansion caused was the spread of only one culture. According to the third presentation, Europe’s Assault on the World, “From the earliest stages of prehistory the cultural trends had always been toward differentiation.” (Slide 2). However, Europeans felt they were superior to everyone else and would disturb other cultures they encountered. Religion was one area where they felt they knew everything and possessed the correct one. Christianity, the Europeans thought was the one true religion. According to the reading, “Their religion was always present as a cultural fact and this gave Europeans the assurance that they were superior to the peoples they came in contact with for the first time.” This would often result in violent exchanges between the two groups. The arrogance of the Europeans and their religion was one

In many a voyage across the Atlantic Ocean, many resources from the New World of North America had been transported and distributed into the European areas of the Old World. In great means of success, the resources blossomed in popularity and caused many economic and agricultural effects on the inhabitants of the Old World. The great man behind such success was Christopher Columbus, an Italian seaman who, over the course of a decade modified the economic and agricultural successes of the Old World. The importations of multiple New World resources brought to the Old World many modifications regarding agricultural focuses, economic successes, and the diets and lifestyles of the European population.

The social, economic, and political impacts of the Europes first contact with The New have been incredibly enormous, completely changing the world from what it once was. From the beginning of the 16th Century when Columbus landed, to the first colony, Jamestown, the transformations that occurred have been profound, reaching the entire world.

The impact of European expeditions in the American regions during the late 1400s and early 1500s was substantial. Entirely motivated by god, glory, and gold; the Europeans brought many things to America. Including death, food, religion, metal tools, and language. Starting around 1492, Columbus was trying to find a faster route to Asia. Instead, he found an entirely different continent that would later be named America. One of the most notable things they brought was death. Bartolomé de Las Casas noted “so that from 1494 to 1508, over three million people had perished from war, slavery, and the mines” ("Effects of European Colonization: Christopher Columbus and Native Americans"). This was primarily due to European domesticated animals such as: pigs, sheep, horses, cows, and goats. To create a great epidemic of diseases America had never witnessed before. Horrible diseases which the ingenious population had no immunity from, smallpox, typhus, influence, diphtheria, and measles. “Modern historians commonly accept that around 90% of all Native Americans died as a result of contact with Europeans” ("Effects of European Colonization: Christopher Columbus and Native Americans").

However, after Columbus discovered the Americas in 1492, they began to move small quantities of completely new products back towards the East. First, they moved new “superfoods" such as potatoes, which were exceptionally important to the peoples across the Steppe and of Central Asia who had difficulty farming on the land. The Europeans also transported new stimulants such as the cocoa bean to make chocolate as well as tobacco which became wildly popular in India for religious and spiritual reasons. Thus the Europeans changed older patterns of commerce by creating the first real Global Trade

Many things led to the European exploration. One thing that led to the exploration is that the desire to grow rich. They also wanted to spread Christianity. There was also many advances in sailing technology such as the compass. Those are some of the things that starts the European exploration.