Early Modern Transoceanic Connections Minecraft Review

Early Modern Transoceanic Connections

Columbian Exchange/Colonization

  • By 1200, Europeans realized they were relatively irrelevant compared to Asians.

    • After the Crusades, Muslims were not an option for trade, so Europeans needed to sail to India.
    • The Renaissance sparked curiosity about what was out there.
    • The Reformation motivated spreading Christianity.
    • The primary motivations were economic gain ($$$) and spices.

  • Portugal:

    • Sought a route around Africa.
    • Vasco da Gama, with Arab advancements, succeeded.

  • Columbus:

    • Proposed sailing west.
    • Accidentally landed in the Americas, bringing Spain into the game.
    • Encountered new people, abundant resources, and economic/life opportunities.
    • Spain had advantages like human/material resources, ship technology, ironwork, gunpowder, horses, and diseases.

  • Columbian Exchange:

    • Exchanges between Europe/Africa and the Americas.
    • Examples:
      • Crops: sugar, wheat, barley, okra, rice, oranges, grapes, lettuce, coffee from Europe. Effects: deforestation, soil depletion.
      • Animals: horses, oxen, pigs, cattle, sheep, goats, mosquitoes, rats, chickens from Europe. Effects: overgrazing, soil erosion, spread of diseases.
      • People: Europeans, Africans. Effects: racial diversity, chattel slavery, social structures based on race/ethnicity.
      • Diseases: smallpox, measles, typhus, bubonic plague, influenza from Europe. Effects: millions of deaths.
      • Tech/ideas: alphabetic writing, firearms. Effects: improved communications, new methods for hunting/warfare.
      • Crops: potatoes, maize, manioc, tobacco, cacao, peanuts, chocolate from Americas. Effects: better nutrition, population increase, greater wealth.
      • Animals: turkeys, llamas, alpacas, guinea pigs from Americas. Effects: more diverse diet, new types of textiles.
      • People: Native Americans. Effects: ethnic diversity.
      • Diseases: Syphilis. Effects: increased health risks.
      • Tech/ideas: rubber, quinine. Effects: Rubber was first used for erasers, quinine was a treatment for malaria.

  • Pizarro and Cortés penetrated the mainland, leading other nations to establish colonies in the Americas, forming alliances with natives and spreading diseases.

Spanish Colonies

  • Ruled through mercantilism, where colonies exported goods to the mother country in a closed market.

  • Hacienda/Encomienda System:

    • Natives were