Changes and continuities in the Atlantic period 1492-1750
In 1492 to 1750, the Atlantic World changed drastically, as well as keeping some continuity. The Columbian Exchange was the main reason for any change or continuity, being that it interconnected the entire globe to create a singularly biological world. The Western and Eastern Regions of the world, specifically Africa, Europe and the Americas, were now in contact. The social change would be the increase in African slavery because of the many problems with indigenous labor, while the social continuity would be the steady population growth through the period due to the new, substantial American Crops. Perhaps the most obvious and yet the most relevant economic change was the building of a large global trading system; largely due to the Columbian Exchange, where there used to be little to no contact between regions at all. An economic continuity would be the lower classes and their little meaning to society because they had no rights. During this time period we see the change of increased slavery and how the world turned towards Africa to supply the “commodity”. For example, When Pizarro conquered the Incas, he started out using mostly indigenous labor. This was all fine and dandy until the smallpox, measles, and yellow fever that Pizarro and his crew brought over started to predominantly impact the amount of indigenous labor available. When this happened, the Portuguese set their sight on Africa for slaves. However it was not only the Portuguese, but the Spanish and Europeans who had their sights set on Western Africa as well. Africa quickly became a main slave exporter, thus supplying needy Portuguese, etc. with labor that wouldn’t be as affected by the abundant diseases. Looking at economic change, the most relevant would have to be the building of a large global trading system. Before the