Social And Economic Causes Of The Columbian Exchange Essay

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From 1491 to 1607, the arrival of the Europeans was prompted by social, political, and economic factors. Religious freedom was a main social incentive for colonization. The Huguenots, for instance, attempted to establish a religious refuge in North America. Also, because many lands in England were “enclosed,” thousands of families were left in search of employment and homes, and American colonization offered an alternative to homelessness. Political motivated European nations desired more territory to build powerful empires. And the seemingly limitless resources and land available inspired colonists to come over and improve their economic conditions. Columbus, for example, made his voyage to the Caribbean in search of gold and slaves.
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The Spanish built their new empire where the natives used to live. The colonies had Indians, Africans, Spanish colonists, and mixed descendants. Through at first there were only brief encounters between the Europeans and Native Americans, exchanges eventually took place between the Europeans and the Native Americans. The Europeans brought diseases to the Americas that the native populations were not immune to and these diseases were spread through trade that depopulated the continent. Not only were thousands of natives killed, but those who survived had their abilities to resist invasions severely weakened. Exchanges, warfare, and lower birthrates led the native population to decrease by ninety percent by the beginning of the twentieth century, which would open the way for more Europeans to immigrate to the Americas. For instance, the Cahokia were decimated by the diseased that spread through movement. The arrival of the Europeans led to the decimation of the natives. While the Europeans had been in close contact with animals and lived with festering waste, the Native Americans had advanced sanitation systems, and thus were more susceptible to the diseases the Europeans brought. Arguably, for example, the Aztecs were more advanced than the Europeans during this time
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