Download 20-4-Notes

Effects of Global Contact
Objectives
•
Explain how European exploration led to the
Columbian Exchange.
•
Analyze the commercial revolution.
•
Understand the impact of mercantilism on
European and colonial economies.
Terms and People
•
Columbian Exchange – a vast global exchange
of goods, people, plants, and animals that began
with Columbus and profoundly affected the world
•
inflation – a rise in prices that is linked to a sharp
increase in the amount of money available
•
price revolution – the period in European history
during the 1500s when inflation rose rapidly
•
capitalism – an economic system in which most
businesses are owned privately
Terms and People (continued)
•
entrepreneur – a person who takes
on financial risks to make profits
•
mercantilism – an economic policy in
which it was believed that a nation
must export more goods than it
imports to build its supply of gold and
silver
•
tariff – a tax on imported goods
How did the voyages of European
explorers lead to new economic
systems in Europe and its colonies?
Voyages of exploration in the 1500s and 1600s
led to a period of European domination of the
globe.
The exchange of people, goods, plants, and
animals that came after these voyages changed
the lives of those in Europe, Asia, Africa, and the
Americas.
The Columbian Exchange of people, food, goods,
and animals profoundly affected the world.
In the wake of explorers,
traders took new foods,
such as tomatoes,
peppers, and corn, from
America back to Europe.
They also brought plants
and animals, such
as horses and chickens,
from Europe to the
Americas.
Notice the origins of the different items. Which 5
do you think had the most significant impact?
Mrs. Meyers’ Top 5:
1.
Horses: Allowed for faster transportation, a huge
advantage for the Europeans-made conquest easier
2.
Potatoes: Became a staple (basic element) of diets
worldwide and allowed for significant population increases
3.
4.
Corn: Same as potatoes
Disease: Scholars estimate that almost 95% of Native
American populations were wiped out from European
diseases
5.
Sugar: Perhaps the most significant item of them all…
Where did 3 out of these 5 items originate?
Some new foods terrified Europeans
People
thought the tomatoes were
poisonous.
People believed that potatoes caused
leprosy.
 Even starving peasants were afraid to
eat potatoes.
Corn and potatoes
 Had
the highest effect in
the Old World.
 Both crops are
inexpensive to grow and
highly nutritious.

This improved the lives of
many peasants and
boosted the world’s
population.
 The
planting of the
white potato in Ireland
and the first sweet
potato in China changed
their countries’ histories.
The global
population
started to
explode
by 1700.
•
One of the key causes was
the spread of new food
crops from the Americas.
•
However, Native American
populations declined
severely due to
European diseases.
Millions of people migrated at this time. Europeans
spread out in the Americas. Africans were forced to
the Americas by the slave trade.
Diseases brought to New World
Smallpox
Influenza
Typhus
Measles
Malaria
Diphtheria
Whooping
Cough
Economic Impact
New wealth from the America’s prompts
the creation of a new economic model in
Europe
 This was called the Commercial Revolution
 Capitalism grew. No longer were
governments the sole owners of great
wealth.
 Mercantilism was adopted as an economic
model. This meant that a country’s power
depended on its wealth.

A commercial revolution occurred as a result
of direct links between the continents.
•
Prices began to rise in Europe due to the huge
amount of silver and gold coming in from the
Americas. This led to inflation.
•
This time period was known as the price
revolution and led to the growth of capitalism,
in which most businesses are owned privately.
Increased money supply
 The
increased money
supply caused prices
to rise.
 Spain experienced
crushing inflation in
the 1600s due to
boatloads of gold and
silver from the
Americas greatly
increased the nation’s
money supply.
.
Capitalists
sought to
make money
through
investment,
rather than
through land
or labor.
• Entrepreneurs looked
overseas for opportunities
to make profits.
• Investors formed joint
stock companies to pool
funds and lessen
individual risk.
• Capitalists adopted
bookkeeping methods
from the Arabs.
• Banks became more
important.
Merchants began to bypass medieval guilds.
•
A merchant capitalist distributed raw material
such as wool to peasant cottages.
•
Peasants processed it into cloth. Then, the
merchant sold the finished product for a profit.
•
This system, known by the term “cottage
industry,” separated capital and labor for the first
time.
European
monarchs
adopted a
new economic
policy called
mercantilism.
•
The goal of this policy was
to build the nation’s gold
and silver reserves by
exporting more goods
than it imported.
•
To do this, European nations
had strict laws governing
trade with their colonies and
imposed tariffs.
As a result of these measures, national governments
had a lot of control over their economies.
The majority of
Europeans were
peasants unaffected
by these economic
changes.
However, new
middle-class
families had a
comfortable life.
The price revolution helped enrich merchants
and skilled workers but hurt nobles, whose
wealth was tied to the land.
Favorable balance of trade
Means for countries to sell
more goods than it buys.
 A nation’s goal under
mercantilism was to become
self-sufficient and not have to
depend on other countries for
goods.
 Colonies provided raw
materials to home countries.
 Home countries sold the goods
back to the colonists,
sometimes at a higher price.

Task:

Choose 1 of the following tasks to complete
with your partner. Create:




An advertisement for joining a joint stock
company
An advertisement for moving to the “New World”
in a Spanish colony
A warning poster for Native Americans about the
Spanish
A warning poster for Africans about the Triangular
Trade
Your ad must contain an image, a catchy slogan,
and a brief description of the job or the dangerremember, try to be convincing!