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Columbian Exchange Research Paper

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When the New World was discovered in 1492, European history would soon become shaped by what is now known as the Columbian Exchange. The Columbian Exchange is defined as a period when the New and Old Worlds engaged in cultural and biological exchanges. These exchanges played an important role in the economic continuities and changes that occurred in the Atlantic World as a result of new contacts among Western Europe, Africa, and the Americas from 1492 to 1750. Some of the changes that occurred included a change in the coercive labor system and the discovery of silver. Some of the continuities included the demand for crops and slaves.
The search for profit for Western Europeans began with Christopher Columbus. Columbus was sure that there was …show more content…

Encomienda was a labor system created by the Spanish to gain access to resources, such as gold, that was available in the Americas. Native people were forced to work for landowners in exchange for food and shelter. Another economic change was the discovery of silver. The discovery of silver in Mexico and Peru increased the wealth of Spain. Silver mining became more profitable to the point where cities were prosperous because of them being the center of this industry. This change ties in with the change in coercive labor because in order for this industry to boom,
Spanish prospectors would need labor. In Peru, the Spanish changed the traditional labor system into a coerced labor system where villages were forced to send a good amount of their men into the mines to do dangerous work in exchange for a low wage. New labor systems and silver allowed for the Spanish economy to strengthen.
The Americas produced many native crops such as potatoes, tomatoes, beans, etc. Europeans brought these crops and others back to their countries where people began to grow them. Potatoes, for example, became a staple crop in areas in Europe, such as Ireland, where because of their dependance on the

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