Key Concepts
Europeans wanted to explore new worlds, but they did not have the technology. These new advances allowed them to sail across the dangerous Atlantic Ocean that was difficult to navigate through before.
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Better Ships
During the 1400s, Europeans began improving and advancing their ships. They started using triangular sails developed by the Arabs. Triangular sails let ships zigzag into the wind. Because ships were built with many masts and smaller sails, they sailed faster. A new type of rudder made steering easier. These inventions resulted in a Portuguese ship called a caravel; with these new ships, Europeans could begin exploring the world. Caravels could carry about 130 tons of cargo, and they were smaller and lighter than Spanish galleons.
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The Fall of the Aztec and Inca
When Spanish conquistadors arrived in the Americas, the Aztec and Inca were ruling vast empires. The Aztec had more than 5 million people, and they built irrigation systems and had an advanced calendar. The Inca lived in the Andes Mountains of South America and constructed a huge network of roads that covered 25,000 miles with their advanced engineering skills. Both the Aztec and Inca had large amounts of silver, gold, and other precious metals. Although they had large armies, they could not stand against the swords, guns, and horses of the Spanish. The Spanish also spread diseases such as smallpox that killed millions of Native Americans. Hernan Cortes defeated the Aztec, and Francisco Pizarro conquered the Inca. As a result, Spain gained control of land in the Americas.
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Joint-Stock Companies
During the 1600s, there was a commercial revolution as new ways of doing business developed in Europe. Commerce is the buying and selling of goods in large amounts over long distances. European merchants based their trade on supply and demand to make more money. The rise of commerce gave birth to a new type of businessperson—the entrepreneur. Entrepreneurs invest, or put money into, a project to make even more money when the project is completed. A joint-stock company is formed when a group of entrepreneurs come together to invest in a large project by buying a stock, or a share of the company.
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Mercantilism
Mercantilism had three main beliefs: 1. a country gains power by compiling a large supply of gold and silver, 2. you should export more goods than you import, and 3. countries should establish colonies. Mercantilism was an idea that developed when Spain and Portugal grew wealthy from trade, and Europeans were wondering how they had become so rich. If you export, or sell to other countries, more than you import, or buy from them, more gold and silver comes in from other countries than goes out. A colony is a settlement of people living in a new territory controlled by their home country; colonists produce goods their country does not have at home, so the country does not have to import those goods from other countries. Mercantilism also encouraged Europeans to set up trading posts in Asia. |
The Columbian Exchange
The Columbian Exchange was the global exchange of goods, ideas, diseases, people, and technology that was started when Christopher Columbus brought back goods from the Americas in 1492. Corn and potatoes were important foods grown in North America because they resulted in a surplus. Other foods planted in the Americas were squash, tomatoes, chili peppers, tropical fruits, grains, and peanuts. Chocolate from Central America was added with milk and sugar to create a popular sweet, and tobacco was smoked by Asians and Europeans. New animals were also taken to the New World such as horses, which provided a fast way of transportation. The Columbian Exchange drastically increased the world’s food supply and increased world population. However, there were some problems in this global transfer. Europeans spread diseases that killed millions, and some new species of animals and plants damaged the environment. European presence in the Americas weakened Native American cultures. Additionally, millions of Africans were enslaved and taken to the Americas to grow sugarcane. Asian society was changed as Europeans took control and forced rulers to set up trading posts in Asia. Finally, the Columbian Exchange spread religion and philosophies and created unity in areas of European control.
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