Corn originated in the Mexican highlands when hunter-gatherers domesticated wild plants into a sustainable crop. This culture quickly became the foundation that allowed the Aztec and Inca empires to flourish. The practice of growing corn slowly spread from Mexico to the Americas, where it was adopted by the indigenous people inhabiting those regions. At the time, people in the Americas were nomadic hunter-gatherers. The agricultural practice of growing corn enabled and encouraged these groups to settle in a single location, and thus to form complex societies reminiscent of the great empires that ruled throughout central Mexico. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay These three societal groups used the agricultural practice of growing corn as an encouragement to settle down. These groups being previously hunter-gatherers, they were nomadic. Indeed, hunting and gathering are not sustainable practices, so they would exhaust the resources available in a specific location and would therefore be forced to move. This is where agriculture comes in: cultivation allowed these groups to settle in a region, which allowed them to devote less energy to gathering food and more energy to building impressive architecture and complex societies that are still studied by historians to this day. Growing corn also meant that these companies had to constantly innovate and invent new technologies to cultivate their agricultural practices. For example, the Pueblo people invented a complex irrigation system to water their crops. It is for this and other similar technological advances that corn cultivation was essential to the development of the impressive societies of Native America. It was easier for Europeans because at the time, the natives were widely dispersed, both geographically but also in a social sense. Not only did they live far from each other, but they did not have the complex, unified societies that Mexico had (through the Aztec and Inca empires). This meant it was more difficult to fight back and defend as a small group against an imposing force of European explorers. in the sense that corn had been used to build the great empires and complex societies that these groups lacked when the Europeans arrived. Explain some of the factors that led Europe to explore and conquer Africa and the Americas between the 14th and 16th centuries. In your answer, be sure to reference the following terms: compass, caravel, printing press, nation state, Christianity, and Asia. One of the factors that motivated European exploration and conquest was the European hunger for the exotic goods that Asia had to offer. These goods of course held great promise for wealth-hungry Europeans, but the means of transporting these goods was expensive and required long and dangerous journeys. Indeed, half of European merchants traveled by land, either by camel or on foot, or had to undertake even longer journeys by sea on unreliable and unsafe ships. Added to this were additional costs, meaning that by the time the products reached European traders, they were no longer worth the price at which they were intended to be sold. It is therefore clear that the inefficiency of this system motivated Europeans to find a better way to trade with Asia. Another factor that motivated this expansion was theChristianity. For hundreds of years, Christian warriors launched military efforts to retake the Holy Land from its Muslim inhabitants. Although their efforts were in vain, the military power they gained motivated them to venture into Asia and search for exotic goods. Until now, for much of European history, navigation around the west coast of Africa had been rarely attempted and considered impossible due to simple meteorological danger. This changed with Portugal's invention of the caravel, which was a small ship that could sail around the African continent without staying too far from the coast, thus weathering the elements more safely and reliably. This allowed the Portuguese to further explore the southern part of Africa. After the Portuguese reached and attempted to conquer the tip of the African coast, their caravels pushed further toward their original objective: Asia. Spain had recently ended an internal conflict while all of this was going on, so Spain had a desire to surpass, or at least match, Portugal in its efforts to secure the Indies. On top of this, Spain was at a new high point in the development of its national state and the next necessary step was exploration and a goal of conquest. Finding that Portugal controlled much of the African coastline, Spain turned its attention to the west, not knowing the implications of such a journey. Finally, two crucial technological elements aided in the European “discovery” of the new world. These would be the printing press and the compass. The printing press enabled reliable and uniform sharing of information. This meant that maps and scientific knowledge could be printed without human error, making exploration safer and more efficient. The compass, borrowed from the Arabs rather than invented by Europeans, allowed sailors to chart their course with much more precision than before. Spain claimed much of what is now Mexico and the west coast of South America. This is not surprising since the countries located in these regions speak Spanish, or a modern adaptation of it. Portugal claimed much of what is now Brazil and the east coast of South America. Again, this is not surprising given that Brazil speaks Portuguese these days. Define the Colombian Stock Exchange (click here for a map). (Map does not work) The Columbian Exchange, as the name suggests, was a massive exchange of plants, animals, food and disease between the historic Old World and the already inhabited but newly announced New World . Europeans discovered that the Caribbean climate was ideal for growing and maintaining sugar cane, which fueled the sugar industry in Europe. The “sugar revolution” dramatically changed the average European diet, as it now included large amounts of sugar. In addition to this, the precious metals found in America were perfect for use in trade with Asia. Explain how the Columbian Exchange harmed Native American populations. When Europeans arrived in Native America, they brought with them two deadly plagues that would bring disaster to native societies. The first is a plethora of deadly diseases. These were so common in Europe that over the centuries Europeans had developed antibodies that made them immune to contracting these diseases. However, the Native Americans did not have these antibodies, so diseases brought a plague to them that killed the majority of their population. The other deadly force brought intoAmerica in 1492 was the Europeans themselves. It may seem trivial to state this since it is a widely recognized fact, but Europeans killed and enslaved the large portion of the remaining indigenous population who did not die of disease or plague. The Columbian Exchange also brought horses, which were quickly adopted by the Plains natives. Describe the impact of New World gold and silver on European economies. The sudden influx of silver and gold into Europe had three main effects. The first is that it caused the cost of goods to increase by up to 500% in the century following the European “discovery” of the new world. The second effect was that from this immense wealth was born the system we know today as capitalism. The third effect is that any amount of gold and silver tasted by Europe only creates more desire, thus financing more and more expeditions to the Americas to search for more precious metals. This also fueled trade with Asia kept the European economy rotating. The encomienda system was a system that the Spanish used to enslave native people by giving them to a colonist in exchange for their conversion to Christianity. How successful have these efforts been? They were temporarily successful due to the degree of brutality imposed on the pueblo residents, but they eventually fought back during the Pope's Rebellion, which burned down the missions and churches that the Spanish had established in that region. The caste system was a legal system of classification based on race that granted certain privileges to certain people (occupying a higher class in the caste system) and deprived certain people of these privileges (occupying a lower class in the caste system) . How far was it possible to move up or down the scale of the caste system? Explain using specific historical evidence. There were many ways to progress through the caste system. The first is to officially purchase an exemption that would allow a person to achieve "legal whiteness", thereby giving them access to the privileges afforded to those at the top of the caste system (people of Spanish origin born in Spain ). Another way to move up the caste system is to marry or marry someone with a lighter skin color than yours. This was a less formal way of achieving a higher place in the caste system, but it encouraged the mixing of races which would still be known today as an important contributing factor to the culture of that region. Juan Gines de Sepulveda presented two main points in his argument. The first was to blatantly demean Native Americans (called “Indians” because of the time in which these texts were written) by calling them barbarians or animals. His second point was that the indigenous peoples of the time, referring specifically to the complex societies of the Aztec and Inca empires, did indeed have a complex and impressive society, even though they had nothing going for them and submitted to the will of their leaders. . He used this to his advantage regarding European colonization by saying that the natives would not be opposed to changing masters, especially when their new masters (the Spanish) were a much more benevolent and Christian people. Here is a quote from Sepulveda affirming this point of view (from the reading): “Taking advantage of the death of a king to obtain a freer state more favorable to his interests; by not doing so, they have made it very clear that they are.