Changes in Global Trade

Map presumed to be Christopher Columbus', circa 1490

Throughout history, trade and exploration have been an integral part of civilizations. Because each community specialized in particular products and goods, for centuries, they traded gold, spices, and natural resources among each other in Europe, Africa, and Asia. However, in the 1300s A.D. (C.E.), trade became more costly and difficult. The Mongol Empire, which had offered protection to travelers who carried goods, began to collapse, resulting in confusion and travel dangers between Asia and Western Europe via overland routes. The spices Europeans used to flavor and preserve foods, and make medicines and perfumes, were consequently more difficult to obtain, as Asian spices could only reach Europe by travel around Asia and through the Italian Peninsula. The already expensive cost of spices increased.

Competing for political and economic power of European empires, and seeking other ways to transport spices into Western Europe, many adventurous businessmen tried to find a way to sail from Europe to Asia over sea. Two ideas emerged: reaching Asia by using an all water route to travel around Africa's southern coast, called the Cape of Good Hope; and discovering a "Northwest Passage" to take sailors westward across the Atlantic Ocean to Asia. The second option was conceived without knowledge of the American continents or two separate oceans.

Methods of navigation had been improving for generations. By the 1400s, maps were much more accurate, and mapmakers, called cartographers, started using grid lines of latitude and longitude to assist travelers in measuring and determining their location. In addition, the Muslim world was the source of navigational tools and techniques such as the astrolabe, quadrant, and various compasses.

European Expansion in Africa

While Europeans from various countries sought ways to expand into Africa, the Portuguese, led by efforts of Prince Henry the Navigator, initiated the exploration. In this interactivity, you will learn more about the impacts European expansion had on Africa. Click the player button to begin.

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European Expansion in the Americas

While many European nations sent explorers around the coast of Africa, a few nations sent explorers westward across the Atlantic Ocean, in search of an all-water route and the elusive "Northwest Passage" to the Pacific Ocean and Asia. In this interactivity, you will learn about the European explorers Christopher Columbus, John Cabot, and Hernán Cortés. Click the player button to begin.

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The Columbian Exchange, Slavery, and Disease

A wood engraving of the slave ship, Brookes of Liverpool,
that illustrates the conditions on the Middle Passage

The largest cultural and material diffusion in human history refers to a period of exchanges between the New World of the Americas and the Old Worlds of Europe, called the Columbian Exchange. Cultural and biological exchanges included plants, animals, technologies, and ideas, all of which transformed European and Native Americans' ways of life. The exchange started in 1492, after Columbus' discovery, in an era historians now refer to as the Age of Exploration, or the Age of Discovery. Advancements in agricultural production and warfare, and the spread of disease, education, and the Christian faith, mark a few examples of the effects the Columbian Exchange had on the Europeans and Native Americans.

When Europeans arrived in the Americas, they typically believed their technological advantage also equated to a cultural and spiritual advantage over the natives. In some instances, Catholic missions provided communities with needed help, food, and medicine. However, more often, Europeans showed little respect for the beliefs and lifestyles of the native groups. As a result, it was typical to violently force Native Americans to convert to Christianity.

In addition, European diseases ravaged the native populations because the Native Americans lacked immunity to common European illnesses like small pox and the common cold. Conversely, because Africans had developed such immunities through centuries of contact with the Europeans, they became the primary victims in the slave trade of the Trans-Atlantic Trade known as the Triangular Trade. In this trade pattern, raw resources from the Americas were traded for finished products from Europe and slaves from Africa. Sadly, Africans, who were expected to endure slavery and disease, often did not survive the horrors of the voyage from freedom to slavery known as the Middle Passage.

European Impact on African and Early American Civilizations Review

Now that you have explored the impact Europeans had on African and Early American civilizations, review your knowledge in this interactivity. Click the player button to get started.