European Global Exploration

The Columbian Exchange

The global diffusion of plants, food crops, animals, human populations, and disease pathogens that took place after voyages of exploration by Columbus and other European mariners.

Smallpox

The worst scourge that spread during the Columbian Exchange.

Food crops that went from Europe to the Americas

Included wheat and vines (for grapes).

Crops from the Americas to Europe, Africa and Asia

Included maize, potatoes, beans, tomatoes, and peppers.

Bubonic plague recovery

The introduction of foods from the Western Hemisphere to the Eastern Hemisphere helped dramatically recover from this disease.

Enslaved Africans

The largest contingent of migrants transported involuntarily to the Americas from 1500 to 1800.

Portugal

The first European country to begin global exploration.

Muslims and spice trade

Most spices and luxury goods from Asia were brought to Europe by Muslims via sea routes before Portuguese exploration.

Expanding Christianity

This was also an important goal for the Portuguese during their explorations.

Spain

The second European country to undertake global exploration after Portugal.

Joint-stock companies

In early global exploration, England and the Netherlands benefitted the most from these business ventures.

Conquest of the Philippines

Associated with Spain, where Manila became the hub of Spanish commercial activity in Asia.

The Netherlands in Indonesia

The most active European country involved in colonizing present-day Indonesia, with less religious motivation than Portugal and Spain.

Epidemic diseases in Siberia

Resulted from Russian military advancement eastward through Siberia.

Russia's expansion

Primarily involved expanding land eastward from European Russia to the Pacific Ocean.

Native Siberian peoples

Russia's global expansion largely occurred at the expense of these groups.

1500 A.D. dynamic cultures

The world's most dynamic cultures during this time were found in Asia due to spice and luxury trades.