1. THE IMPACT OF THE AGE OF EXPLORATION

2. Essential Question:
What were the global impacts of the European Age of Exploration?

3. The Impact of the Age of Exploration on EUROPE

4. Overseas colonies increased the wealth and the power of some kings
Spain’s King Philip II
The explorations and conquests of the conquistadors transformed Spain. The Spanish rapidly expanded foreign trade and overseas colonization. For a time, wealth from the Americas made Spain one of the world’s richest and most powerful nations. At the height of Spain’s power it was ruled by Philip II.
In the long run, gold and silver from the Americas hurt Spain’s economy. Inflation, or an increase in the supply of money compared to goods, led to higher prices. Monarchs and the wealthy spent their riches wastefully instead of building up Spain’s industries.

5. In other nations, trade between colonies and their home nation led to the growth of capitalism
ENGLAND
NETHERLANDS

6. Capitalism is a system in which merchants trade and invest money in order to make a profit

7. Nations developed an economic policy called mercantilism based upon the idea that national power comes from a favorable balance of trade
Mercantilism
As a result, colonies are needed to supply the mother country with cheap raw materials

8. Due to mercantilism, a “triangular trade” developed between Europe, their overseas colonies, and Africa

9. Impact on Asia
The Portuguese and Dutch trade in the Spice Islands and in India gaining exotic goods like cotton and spices; their influence did not go beyond than the ports

10. European merchants began to trade in China and Japan and converted some to Christianity

11. Impact on the Americas The Columbian Exchange
The global transfer of foods, plants, and animals during the colonization of the
Americas is known as the Columbian Exchange. Ships from the Americas
brought back a wide array of items that Europeans, Asians, and Africans had
never before seen. They included such plants as tomatoes, squash, pineapples,
tobacco, and cacao beans (for chocolate). And they included animals such as the
turkey, which became a source of food in the Eastern Hemisphere.
Perhaps the most important items to travel from the Americas to the rest of the
world were corn and potatoes. Both were inexpensive to grow and nutritious.
Potatoes, especially, supplied many essential vitamins and minerals. Over time,
both crops became an important and steady part of diets throughout the world.
These foods helped people live longer. Thus they played a significant role in
boosting the world’s population. The planting of the first white potato in Ireland
and the first sweet potato in China probably changed more lives than the deeds
of 100 kings.
Traffic across the Atlantic did not flow in just one direction, however.
Europeans introduced various livestock animals into the Americas. These
included horses, cattle, sheep, and pigs. Foods from Africa (including some that
originated in Asia) migrated west in European ships. They included bananas,
black-eyed peas, and yams. Grains introduced to the Americas included wheat,
rice, barley, and oats.
Some aspects of the Columbian Exchange had a tragic impact on many Native
Americans. Disease was just as much a part of the Columbian Exchange as
goods and food. The diseases Europeans brought with them, which included
smallpox and measles, led to the deaths of millions of Native Americans.

12. Catholic missionaries introduced Christianity to the Americans

13. The Columbian Exchange
The global transfer of foods, plants, and animals during the colonization of the
Americas is known as the Columbian Exchange. Ships from the Americas
brought back a wide array of items that Europeans, Asians, and Africans had
never before seen. They included such plants as tomatoes, squash, pineapples,
tobacco, and cacao beans (for chocolate). And they included animals such as the
turkey, which became a source of food in the Eastern Hemisphere.
Perhaps the most important items to travel from the Americas to the rest of the
world were corn and potatoes. Both were inexpensive to grow and nutritious.
Potatoes, especially, supplied many essential vitamins and minerals. Over time,
both crops became an important and steady part of diets throughout the world.
These foods helped people live longer. Thus they played a significant role in
boosting the world’s population. The planting of the first white potato in Ireland
and the first sweet potato in China probably changed more lives than the deeds
of 100 kings.
Traffic across the Atlantic did not flow in just one direction, however.
Europeans introduced various livestock animals into the Americas. These
included horses, cattle, sheep, and pigs. Foods from Africa (including some that
originated in Asia) migrated west in European ships. They included bananas,
black-eyed peas, and yams. Grains introduced to the Americas included wheat,
rice, barley, and oats.
Some aspects of the Columbian Exchange had a tragic impact on many Native
Americans. Disease was just as much a part of the Columbian Exchange as
goods and food. The diseases Europeans brought with them, which included
smallpox and measles, led to the deaths of millions of Native Americans.
The introduction of new foods, plants, and animals between America and Europe was called the Columbian Exchange

14. The introduction of potatoes and corn helped improve the diets and life expectancy of people throughout the world
The introduction of European grains, horses, and cattle transformed many Indian cultures
Traffic across the Atlantic did not flow in just one direction, however.
Europeans introduced various livestock animals into the Americas. These
included horses, cattle, sheep, and pigs. Foods from Africa (including some that
originated in Asia) migrated west in European ships. They included bananas,
black-eyed peas, and yams. Grains introduced to the Americas included wheat,
rice, barley, and oats.
Some aspects of the Columbian Exchange had a tragic impact on many Native
Americans. Disease was just as much a part of the Columbian Exchange as
goods and food. The diseases Europeans brought with them, which included
smallpox and measles, led to the deaths of millions of Native Americans.

15. The introduction of European diseases like smallpox and influenza killed as many as 90% of Native Americans

16. The Columbian Exchange
The global transfer of foods, plants, and animals during the colonization of the
Americas is known as the Columbian Exchange. Ships from the Americas
brought back a wide array of items that Europeans, Asians, and Africans had
never before seen. They included such plants as tomatoes, squash, pineapples,
tobacco, and cacao beans (for chocolate). And they included animals such as the
turkey, which became a source of food in the Eastern Hemisphere.
Perhaps the most important items to travel from the Americas to the rest of the
world were corn and potatoes. Both were inexpensive to grow and nutritious.
Potatoes, especially, supplied many essential vitamins and minerals. Over time,
both crops became an important and steady part of diets throughout the world.
These foods helped people live longer. Thus they played a significant role in
boosting the world’s population. The planting of the first white potato in Ireland
and the first sweet potato in China probably changed more lives than the deeds
of 100 kings.
Traffic across the Atlantic did not flow in just one direction, however.
Europeans introduced various livestock animals into the Americas. These
included horses, cattle, sheep, and pigs. Foods from Africa (including some that
originated in Asia) migrated west in European ships. They included bananas,
black-eyed peas, and yams. Grains introduced to the Americas included wheat,
rice, barley, and oats.
Some aspects of the Columbian Exchange had a tragic impact on many Native
Americans. Disease was just as much a part of the Columbian Exchange as
goods and food. The diseases Europeans brought with them, which included
smallpox and measles, led to the deaths of millions of Native Americans.
Europeans introduced the plantation system in America to exploit the resources

17. Impact on Africa
Plantations needed workers; however, disease killed most of the natives, so Europeans looked to Africa as a source of slaves

18. For 300 years, slaves were sold in West Africa and brought to America along a route across the Atlantic Ocean known as the Middle Passage

19. Slave Ships

20. The “Coffin” position used below deck

22. African captives being thrown overboard

23. Slave auction upon arrival in America

24. Hard labor at a sugar plantation in Haiti

25. The majority of African slaves worked in harsh conditions on sugar and indigo plantations or in gold and silver mines

26. Africans were treated like things, not people; this led to brutal treatment and indifference to their lives and well-being