What role did the Age of Discovery play in shaping the Modern World?
Related questions
Question
What role did the Age of Discovery play in shaping the Modern World? Please DON’T REJECT THE QUESTION ALLOW SOMEONE ELSE TO ANSWER.
Transcribed Image Text:Deroni bire
Redeut
S"Cagherins
forte
F
Pembroki forte | King Caftell
Sehampton ferte
Sale of Mils
旺 出出
Tarwicks ferte e tl C
The Summer fi.
ILLI
The Bri
l
TAS.
Riches Mount
Peni/ler lute Charles fut
State
houle Thes Le
AB.C.Fher
the fimanon of
thes bridgo P
the MeDE
EGHIKLM.
NO. farts hor
Faarts forte
Smth
w ele bi.
wilhew you
ogleme
THE ISLAND OF BERMUDA. This map of the "Summer Isle" of Bermuda
and the accompanying images of its major fortifications and sites were drawn
by Captain John Smith and published in The Generall Historie of Virginia,
New-England, and the Summer Isles (1624). > Why would such features be of
interest to readers of this pamphlet?
THE COLUMBIAN EXCHANGE AND ITS
ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS
The accelerating rate of global connections in the sixteenth century precipitated the
unprecedented movement of peoples, plants, animals, and bacteria. This movement
is known as the "Columbian exchange," and it soon came to encompass lands that
lay far beyond the purview of Columbus and his contemporaries, including Australia
and the Pacific Islands. los
Because of its profound consequences, the Columbian exchange is a fundamen-
tal turning point in both human history and the history of the earth's ecology. It
put new agricultural products into circulation, introduced new species of animals,
and accidentally encouraged the spread of diseases and the devastating invasions of
nonnative plants and animals. For example, the introduction of pigs and dogs to
islands in the Atlantic and Pacific resulted in the extinction of indigenous animals
and birds. The landscapes of Central America and southwestern North America
were denuded of vegetation after Spanish settlers attempted large-scale herding and
ranching operations. European honeybees displaced native insect populations and
fostered harmful plant species. Gray squirrels and raccoons from North America
STO
absrai
Columbian exchange The
widespread exchange of
peoples, plants, animals,
diseases, goods, and culture
between the African and
Eurasian landmasses (on
the one hand) and the
region that encompasses
the Americas, Australia
and the Pacific Islands (on
the other); precipitated by
Christopher Columbus.
08ar-02 bl The Emergence of the Atlantic World
471
Transcribed Image Text:worms were transported to the Americas. Insects
from all over the world traveled to new environments
violent-
found their way to Britain and the European Conti-
nent, and brown rats and even some species of earth-
THE COLUMBIAN EXCHANGE
The following are just a few of the commodities and
contagions that moved between the Old World and
the New World in this era.
of human populations accelerated this process.
Entire peoples were wiped out by force, resettle-
ment, or disease. As much as 90 percent of the
pre-Columbian population of the Americas died
of smallpox, cholera, influenza, typhoid, measles,
malaria, and bubonic plague-all brought from
Europe. Syphilis, in contrast, appears to have been
brought to Europe from the Americas, possibly by
and spread unfamiliar forms of bacteria and pollen.
The mass transfer-voluntary or
Old WorldNew World New World Old World
• Wheat
• Corn
Sugar
• Bananas
• Potatoes
• Beans
• Rice
Squash
Wine grapes
• Pumpkins
• Tomatoes
• Horses
Meanwhile, the importation of foodstuffs from
one part of the world to another, and their culti-
vation in new habitats, revolutionized the diets of
local populations. The American potato, which
could be grown in substandard soil and stored for
long periods, eventually became the staple diet of
the European poor. Indeed, the foods and flavors
that characterize today's iconic cuisines are, to an
extraordinary degree, the result of the Columbian
exchange. Who can imagine an English meal with-
out potatoes? Switzerland or Belgium without
chocolate? Thai food without chili peppers? On the other side of the Atlantic,
Florida without oranges? Colombia without coffee? Hawaii without pineapples?
Of the ingredients that make up the quintessential American hamburger-
ground-beef patties on a bun with lettuce, tomato, pickles, onion, and (if you like)
cheese-only one component is indigenous to America: tomato. Everything else
is Old World. Even the name is European, a reference to Hamburg in Germany.
Columbus's own sailors.
• Pigs
• Avocados
• Chili peppers
• Pineapples
• Chickens
• Sheep
• Cattle
Cocoa
•Smallpox
• Tobacco
• Measles
Syphilis
• Typhus
Most newcomers to
EARLY COLONIAL POPULATIONS
the Americas are
Compared with the seven million Africans forced to labor and die on plantations
across the Atlantic, only about 1.5 million Europeans immigrated to the Americas
in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Most of them were men, and they were
subject to high mortality rates. Rulers did what they could to encourage fresh waves
of settlement, but the number of those who chose to seek their fortunes abroad
remained relatively small during this period.
In the Spanish colonies, by 1570, some hundred and fifty thousand settlers were
largely concentrated in the military and administrative centers of the empire. Even
the owners of plantations lived in cities, with foremen to manage their estates. Only
chose who had been granted encomiendas tended to live on the lands entrusted to
them by the crown (the Spanish verb encomendar means "to entrust"). The encomienda
System was an extension of the earlier "reconquista' of Spain (Chapter 12), originally
Set up to manage Muslim populations in territories captured by Christian crusaders.
Africans forced into
enslavement
472
Chapter 14 > Europe in the Atlantic World, 1550-1660
Expert Solution
This question has been solved!
Explore an expertly crafted, step-by-step solution for a thorough understanding of key concepts.
Step by step
Solved in 3 steps
