1492-1750 Global Transformation

The time period of 1492 to 1750 was a time of global transformation as well as continuity in the social and economical aspects. Regions such as Africa, Western Europe, and the Americas changed because of the many affects the Colombian Trade. Different imports and exports that each region had drastically changed much of the economic and social aspects of the time. These regions followed a path of continuity in many things and because of the ever-expanding communication going on, social structures were produced and flawed. 1492 marked the beginning of the Colombian Exchange, unifying the Eastern and Western hemispheres across the Atlantic, socially and economically. Europe and the Americas exchanged crops, food, technologies and diseases. The Americas suffered the most from the diseases given to them, like typhus and small pox, which created a population loss. The exchange of livestock had brought the horse to the Americas, which transformed the lifestyle of the nomadic Plains Indians. At this time trans-Saharan slave trade was already in existence and soon after the Western Hemisphere had their share of African slaves, this is known as the trans-Atlantic slave trade. Because European diseases had killed off many Native Americans, African slaves were sought out. Slaves fueled the Americas’ economy and they soon entered the global economy. At this point Europe and the Americas had started taking away Africans from their homes and forcing them into slavery. This mostly occurred in the Americas because of the need for labor. The need for labor came from the huge decrease of population because of the Spanish conquistadors and the diseases brought over by the Colombian Exchange. Plantation slaves in North America blended their culture with that of the Western Hemisphere. In the Americas, social hierarchy was taking place because of the miscegenation of races. Towards the end of this period, the powerful economy of Europe was growing rapidly and a middle class