Shaping a Modern World
In the history of the world, few things have left such a strong influence and impact on the
world as the American Exchange did in 1500 through 1800. Also known as the Columbian
Exchange which was named after Christopher Columbus who discovered the Americas,
the trade established the lost link between the Eastern and Western hemispheres. Through
his exploration of the globe, Columbus opened this pathway that enabled the world to
become what it is today. The American Exchange created connections through trade that
became the building blocks to shape a modernized world through its influence causing the
development of a global economy, the alteration of the world’s population, and many
affects on societies.
The main motivation behind the beginning of the American Exchange was the desire to
find new lands to expand onto, more resources to support cash crops, and to create new
trade routes, especially to Asia.[1] The Silk Road that had been the highway of trade
between Europe and Asia was too dangerous for travel or the transportation of goods
because of the bubonic plague and collapse of the Mongolian empire. This made
Europeans dependent on Islamic traders who had the goods they wanted at high prices.
They needed a new route to directly control the European market of Asian goods causing
many to set out to find such a thing.[2] At the start of the American Exchange, there were
not a lot of goods being output so cash crops such as sugar and tobacco became the focus
of production in the New World. These crops were grown for direct sale to other markets
rather than for the local market and they made tremendous profits in Europe. The
formation of plantation societies run by Spanish, English, Dutch, and French colonists who
harvested sugar, tobacco, coffee bean, rice, indigo, and other cash crops resulted from this
realization.[3] When first established in the islands of the Americas, these colonists had
used indigenous peoples as their work force until disease wiped them out. Due to this, the
colonists had a lack of laborers to work the fields and needed more. This led to the start of
the Atlantic slave trade which helped to boost the growing economy via the buying and
selling of slaves as well as through free labor. To establish trade with Asia, the Galleon
trade was founded as a route from Acapulco on the East coast of Mexico across the Pacific
