The Birth of a Global Network of Connections in 1450-1750
riod of 1450-1750 opened up a global network of connections between the news worlds and old worlds. This era begins with the discovery and following European colonization of the Americas and the African slave trade (diaspora). The interactions focused on three regions: Western Europe, Africa, and the Americas. The communication expanded the economies of all three regions while damaging social structures of Africa and forging new social structures in the Americas
By 1450, Europe was on the verge of an economic explosion, while Africa and America were relatively quiet in the global economy. Long before European contact in Africa, slaves and trans-Saharan slave trade were in existence. Portuguese explores came upon Africa to find this institution. An institution once belonging to Africa would become globalized. Europeans soon began to export slaves to their countries and eventually to the American economies. The slave trade put Africa on the map as a contending economic power. The slave workers fueled the American economies soon thereafter. The Europeans had difficulty in finding and maintaining native American labor. Slaves filtered into the Caribbean, Brazil, and the southern US to serve on plantations. The sugar industry was growing in Europe and the slaves satisfied the Portuguese sweet tooth on the “engenhas” and in other lands. By creating the triangular slave trade, the Americas centered the global economy into a more powerful one. Europe found new colonies and gained new trade goods, whihch increases agricultural production and economy. The social effects and developments differ for each respective land. In Africa, slave trade tore at the social structure. There was more of a demand for male slaves and left many regions dominated by females. This broke up the traditional family of Africa. Different tribes eventually found themselves at war only to obtain more slaves to fuel their growing economies. The slave trade damaged the social integrity of
By 1450, Europe was on the verge of an economic explosion, while Africa and America were relatively quiet in the global economy. Long before European contact in Africa, slaves and trans-Saharan slave trade were in existence. Portuguese explores came upon Africa to find this institution. An institution once belonging to Africa would become globalized. Europeans soon began to export slaves to their countries and eventually to the American economies. The slave trade put Africa on the map as a contending economic power. The slave workers fueled the American economies soon thereafter. The Europeans had difficulty in finding and maintaining native American labor. Slaves filtered into the Caribbean, Brazil, and the southern US to serve on plantations. The sugar industry was growing in Europe and the slaves satisfied the Portuguese sweet tooth on the “engenhas” and in other lands. By creating the triangular slave trade, the Americas centered the global economy into a more powerful one. Europe found new colonies and gained new trade goods, whihch increases agricultural production and economy. The social effects and developments differ for each respective land. In Africa, slave trade tore at the social structure. There was more of a demand for male slaves and left many regions dominated by females. This broke up the traditional family of Africa. Different tribes eventually found themselves at war only to obtain more slaves to fuel their growing economies. The slave trade damaged the social integrity of