Olivia Simoni

Ms. Daniels

Humanities

21st April 2013

Columbus’ ‘Beautiful Mistake’

What were the economic, social and trade impacts of Columbus’ discovery?

Fig. 1, Columbus discovery/arrival in America.

Columbus’ ‘beautiful mistake’ changed the course of history. Because of his discovery, there were significant economic, social and trade impacts that influenced the modern world. This discovery was a huge step, which led to so many other steps to shape our world. However, even though the world changed dramatically because of Columbus’ discovery, his mistake couldn’t have happened without the Renaissance/Age of enlightenment (which led to the discovery of the idea that the world could possibly be round), the support for exploration (which led to better ships, willing sailors and better knowledge of maps and navigating) and the support and money of Isabella, the Queen of Spain. But, because these things were able to fall into place, Columbus was able to make his journey and in the end, make a mistake, which would change our world. His discovery led to so many other important events in history. If the Americas had never been discovered, the Native Americans would never have decreased in population, which would have led to the start of the African trade system, which would have started the civil war. This is one example of the many steps that shaped our world and none of these could have happened without Columbus’ ‘beautiful mistake.’

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Fig. 2, the exchanging of goods between the Americas and Europe, Asia & Africa.

Because of Christopher Columbus’ discovery, other explorers were encouraged to develop further curiosity for exploration and discovery. After Columbus returned from the ‘New World’ with riches; European, Asian and African explorers realized that there is more land to discover further west and if they discover and take the land then it belongs to them along with the natives there, the plantations, food, animals, gold, jewels and other precious stones. At the time, explorers were mostly looking for glory and wealth and both could be found through the discovery of new lands. Other explorers and rulers were encouraged by Columbus’ discovery of new land to the west, and this linked to the economic and societal impacts felt in our modern world.

Due to the discovery of the Americas, a system called the Columbian Trade was developed. The Columbia Trade exchanged goods such as cattle, coffee, sugar and bananas from Europe for supplies such as corn, chocolate, potatoes, and tobacco from the Americas. This trade took place because the Americas had goods which Europe, Africa and Asia did not possess and vice versa. These exchanges were extremely important in the development of our modern world. The trade of animals such as horses from Europe to the Americas allowed natives and colonists life style to change drastically; using horses to hunt buffalo and deer more easily as well as using them to help plant crops. The Columbian Trade also impacted our modern world; for example, Switzerland is now most well known for its chocolate, and Ireland is well-known for its potatoes, yet both of these goods originated from the new world. All these exchanges led to the development of the Columbian Trade, which was an important step in changing our world through trade and economic impacts.

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Because of the arrival of explorers in the Americas, the native population was negatively affected. Eurasian diseases such as the smallpox, bubonic plague, influenza and the pneumonic plague that were brought to the Americas devastated the native population because they were immune to such diseases. This led their population to decrees drastically by 90%. Because of this very few Native American descendants exist today. All these diseases negatively impacted the native population, which led to strong social changes and impacts in history.

Because of the religious laws and restrictions in Europe many people traveled to the ‘New World’ in search of religious freedom. On the 16th of September 1620, a group called the pilgrims left England on the Mayflower in search of the ‘New World.’ The pilgrims went to the ‘New World’ in search of religious freedom because of the religious laws and restrictions enforced by the king of England. This was one of the reasons why religious freedom was sought in the Americas, which socially impacted the world because of Columbus’ discovery.

Because of the shortage of labor in the Americas, the Atlantic slave trade was started. Because of the decrease in the Native population in the Americas, the colonies and European planters ran out of laborers to help work on their plantations, therefore they looked elsewhere for new laborers. They found these laborers in Africa. Africans were inspected, stalked into large slave trade ships, taken from Africa, brought to the Americas and sold as slaves. This became part of a network called the triangular trade. Many slaves died in the ship on the way there because of harsh treatments, diseases, lack of hygiene, clean food & water and as well as being thrown off the ship. Around 10-20 percent of all captured Africans did not survive the journey to the Americas. The surviving Africans were sold into slavery. The Atlantic slave trade caused huge economic, social and trade impacts in our world today. And it was all started because of Columbus’ beautiful mistake.

Fig. 3, Africans being taken from Africato go work as slaves in the Americas.

The harsh treatment and lack of freedom the slaves had, led to the start of the civil war. Many Americans were against the use of slaves. The Northern side of the Americas believed that slaves were people like them and that they deserved the same rights and freedom. On the other hand, the South needed these slaves to help on their plantations and they did not want to loose this source of labor. The North acted against the south, demanding that slaves have there freedom, but the South disagreed. This caused the civil war. Some of the harsh treatments included the fact that, 100-202 slaves died during each voyage to the Americas, 15-20 million Africans were forced into slavery, families were sometimes separated, slaves were wiped and flogged, children were starved and worked to death, and they had no religious rights (they

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must believe in what ever religion their master believed in). These harsh treatments and lack of freedom led to the civil war. This was huge event in history and led to many social changes and

impacts because of the Columbus’ discovery.Even though Columbus’ discovery was built upon social, economic and trade change and development, the overall impact changed the world completely in so many positive and

negative ways. Columbus’ discovery was a mere stepping-stone to so many changes in our world today. I think that without his beautiful mistake, the world would have developed more slowly and history would have change dramatically. Overall, Columbus’ discovery was one of the most crucial steps to shaping our world today.

Word count: 1128

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