Columbian Exchange and Exploration Notes

Objectives: The Columbian Exchange

Connection

Lands claimed by European countries expanded trade networks.

The Columbian Exchange

The process by which plants, animals, diseases, people, and ideas were introduced between Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas.

Arrival of Hernán Cortés

Arrival of Hernán Cortés in Veracruz reflects Rivera's view of the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire, depicting cruelty, violence, and exploitation.

Trade Routes to Asia

Europeans sought sea routes to Asia to bypass Muslim middlemen in the Silk Road trade. They desired luxury items (gold, silk) and spices from China and India. New technologies like maps, astrolabe, ship designs, magnetic compasses, wind patterns and ocean currents aided exploration.

Breakthroughs of the 1490s

• Vasco da Gama sailed around Africa to India.

• Christopher Columbus landed in the Americas.

Spanish explorers conquered the Aztec and Inca Empires due to diseases. Other European countries joined the hunt for wealth. They grew sugarcane, coffee, and bananas using enslaved Africans. This blending of cultures gave American societies their unique cultures.