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Essay / Research on Factors influencing the Latin American economy: silver trade, sugar trade and economic dependence on hydropower
Although seemingly unrelated and irrelevant to each to others, economic interactions between global and regional dynamics have significantly changed almost every nation in our world. The Latin America and Caribbean region in particular has experienced the great strength of these forces, particularly when it comes to environmental change. The silver trade, the sugar trade, and economic dependence on hydropower all demonstrate the extent to which international economic catalysts have altered the environment of Latin America and the Caribbean. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”?Get the original essayThe rise of the global silver trade in the late 1500s not only revolutionized the global economy, but also significantly affected the Latin American environment. Although the great abundance of silver in Spanish-American regions such as San Luis Potosi was a catalyst for the rise of the global silver trade, the greatest contribution to the dynamic increase in silver trade silver and the transformation of the world economy has perhaps been his greatest contribution to the dynamic increase in silver trade and the transformation of the world economy. growing trade with China. Due to the "single whip" reform of 1581, under which taxpayers were required to make money payments to the government in lieu of crops, the use of silver in China exploded, giving the Money is worth more in China than anywhere else in the world. This, combined with the high demand for Chinese trade goods in Europe, made the Chinese one of the main consumers of the Spanish silver trade and led them to be in constant need of cash. This ever-increasing Chinese demand for silver caused the Spanish to constantly increase their silver production. mines in New Spain, and thus perpetually cut down the trees which were used to supply the silver mines. Heavy soil erosion caused by deforestation, combined with severe overgrazing by livestock, brought in to feed the communities created by the mining industry, has often left landscapes beyond repair. In addition, these clearcuts led to a decrease in the biodiversity of the mining regions, with the fires used by the Spanish to clear the forests transforming them into grasslands and destroying the habitat of animals adapted to life in the forest. However, this destruction of the tree landscape and the creation of grasslands paved the way for the development of colonial forms of land use, particularly agriculture and pastoralism, and of the settlements themselves, as the ashes provided elements nutrients that prepared the soil for growing crops and grass. The sugar trade was another factor that affected the environment of Latin America, mainly through disease. With Caribbean dominance in the sugar industry in the mid to late 1600s came the Triangular Trade System, a transatlantic trade route where sugar produced in the Caribbean was sent to their home countries and exchanged for manufactured products, which were then sent. in Africa in exchange for slaves transferred to the Caribbean. Due to the creation of the Triangle trade route, the demand for sugar only increased and large plantation systems were created to meet it. Therefore, many slaves were needed to work,.