Columbian Exchange (jan 1, 1492 – jan 1, 1800)

Description:

-changes how world works(brings world closer together)
-leads to slavery(triangle trade route)
-leads to wars in Africa(guns sold)
-leads to end of Aztecs and Inca
-leads to unification of Japan(Tokugawa)
-leads to centralization of power in Europe(eventually end of feudalism)
-leads to Enlightenment
-leads to scientific and cultural revolutions

Europe to America:
-smallpox
-crops:
~coffee and sugarcane and tobacco(brought to America to be grown as cash crops)
-livestock(cows, horses, pigs->disruptive to environment->no predators)

America to Europe:
-syphilis
-potatoes(high calories and easy to grow led to pop. increase in Europe)
-sweet potatoes(China)
-corn(used for livestock too)

3 Biggest impacts:
-globalization(world interconnectedness)
-pop. increase in Europe and decrease in Americas
-increased wealth in Europe(centralization)

Atlantic System(triangle trade):

Background:
-many people who came to New World were indentured servants(trips were sponsored by lords/nobles/kings-had to pay off debt by working for certain number of years, then free)
-often given crappy land(upset-led to teaming up with indigenous slaves in revolutions)
-as result, indentured servitude wasn't used much in fear of another revolution with poor teaming up with slaves
-instead, Europeans turned to buying slaves from Africa

Triangle Trade Route:
-developed in 17th and 18th cent.
-cycle:
~Europeans(Dutch and Port.) needed laborer
~bought African slaves from kings/elites(in exchange for weapons-help win wars)
~slaves were shipped through the middle passage and sent to work in New World
~send goods back to Europe

Impacts of Exchange(Positive):
-increase in wealth and population of Old World
-Europeans dominated trade(less of emphasis on Asian goods-still prevalent tho)
-food from Americas was more diverse and calorie dense-different diets(pop. growth)

Impacts of trade(Negative):
-introduced enslavement of Africans and Natives
-European agriculture led to massive deforestation and soil depletion
-nearly 90% of natives died from diseases

New World Classes:
-while English colonies were contracts(ex-Virginia Tea Company), Spanish used encomiendas(hired feudalism)
-Spanish conquerors rewarded with lordship/nobility and were given power over areas of land and people there(grants by king)
-natives were vassals(caste system put in place-peninsulares, creoles, mixed, natives, blacks)
-on encomiendas, servants worked in haciendas(plantations or mines or other places)
-racial caste system eventually led to conflict in 19th cent.(creoles had no say in gov./anything)

Spain and Silver(rich-overspent and mismanaged):
-discover hordes of silver in Peru, Mexico and later Nevada
-copying Incas, Spanish adopted more severe Mit'a system(peasant male natives worked mines)
-silver made Spain filthy rich but caused inflation(used silver to fund/fight wars/battles):
~invasion of Dutch rep.
~30 Years War
~funded Catholics in France vs. Ottoman Turks
-silver=one of most desired things on the market(especially in Asia-used to purchase luxury goods-when mines ran dry, people couldn't pay taxes in Asia and not enough food)
-while control of silver trade would give Spain power, mismanagement of taxes, overspending on wars, and silver inflation would lead to decline in 17th cent.

Added to timeline:

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