A changing world thesis and outline

Running head: A CHANGING WORLD THESIS AND OUTLINE 1

A CHANGING WORLD THESIS AND OUTLINE 2

A Changing World Thesis and Outline

HIS 104: American History to 1865

Thesis

The discovery of America changed the world by bringing new routes of trade, introduction of slavery, exchange of animals, new crops/plants and many different diseases.

1. Determine three (3) major aspects that demonstrate Old and New World exchanges.

i. Crops/Plants

i. New World

1. Corn, potatoes, sweet potatoes, manioc, peanuts, tomatoes, squash (incl. pumpkin), pineapples, papaya and avocados (Crosby, n.d.).

ii. Old World

1. Rice, wheat, barley, oats, rye, turnips, onions, cabbage, lettuce, peaches, pears, sugar (Crosby, n.d.).

ii. Disease

i. European carriers of smallpox and measles affected Native Americans

ii. Yellow fever brought to the Americas from Africa through Atlantic slave trade

iii. Syphilis said to come from the Americas and carried to Europe

iii. Animals

i. New World

1. Dogs, llamas, guinea pigs, fowl (Crosby, n.d.).

ii. Old World

1. Dogs, horses, donkeys, pigs, cattle, goats, sheep (Crosby, n.d.).

2. Five (5) Groups Affected By this Event.

i. Africans

i. Introduction of corn to Africa was primary source of food for peasants

ii. Cash crops like tobacco demanded a large amount of labor. When crops took off, demand for labor increased dramatically, giving birth to chattel slavery (Grolle, 2013).

ii. Native Americans

i. Smallpox caused many deaths

ii. European colonization and crop expansion intruded on Native American lands. Natives didn’t understand the “claim” to land and felt it was there for all to use and benefit from (McNeill, n.d.).

iii. Spanish

i. Spain took control of much of the southern tip of the Eastern Americas (Florida), creating wealth for the nation (Grolle, 2013).

ii. Christopher Columbus, upon discovering America, brought crops which allowed for trade with the natives

iv. Europeans

i. Suffered from sexually transmitted disease (syphilis)

ii. Colonizing the Americas also brought freedom to practice religion and freedom from religious persecution for some Europeans (McNeill, n.d.)

v. Chinese

i. Silver rush due to Europeans

ii. With more and more European traffic came more and more silver, eventually causing inflation, tax deficits, bloody unrest and, ultimately, the collapse of the regime (Grolle, 2013).

3. Creation of new global trade routes affected the occupations and lifestyles

i. Export of agricultural goods (Olson-Raymer, n.d.)

ii. Profitable single crop farmers

iii. High profit margins and increase of slave population, as slave labor was cheap

iv. Exportation of natural resources

v. Greed (capitalism)

References

Crosby, A. (n.d.). The Columbian Exchange, Native Americans and the land, nature transformed, TeacherServe, National Humanities Center. Retrieved from http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/tserve/nattrans/ntecoindian/essays/columbianb.htm

Grolle, J. (2013, September 20). The 'Columbian Exchange': How discovering the Americas transformed the world. Retrieved from http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/a-923220.html

McNeill, J. R. (n.d.). The Columbian Exchange. Retrieved from http://www.learnnc.org/lp/editions/nchist-twoworlds/1866

Olson-Raymer, G. (n.d.). The Colonists - What they created. Retrieved from http://users.humboldt.edu/ogayle/hist110/colonial.htmle