A History of the World: Chapter 21: Age of Exploration and Trade

Many events came together to create the right time for overseas exploration.

They obtained gold from trade with African kingdoms.

For the first time, the Taino saw the conquistadors, the soldier-explorers that Spain sent to the Americas.

Sailing west from Spain, Magellan's primary goal was to sail around the Americas and then on to Asia.

They became the first known people to circumnavigate, or sail around, the world.

Cortés also relied on a Maya woman named Malintzin for information about the Aztec.

Malintzin helped Cortés find allies, or other groups willing to battle the Aztec.

As Cortés marched closer, Montezuma changed his mind and decided to ambush the Spanish troops. Cortés, however, had already learned about the planned ambush.

To prevent an Aztec uprising, Cortés took Montezuma hostage, or prisoner.

By the 1530s, the powerful Inca Empire had become considerably weaker.

Spain would create the world's first global empire.

Spanish settlers grew crops of sugarcane on large farms known as plantations.

In time, this mingling of Europeans, Native Americans, and Africans gave rise to a new culture.

Settlers in Brazil grew cash crops such as sugarcane, tobacco, coffee, and cotton. A cash crop is a crop that is grown in large quantities to be sold for profit.

The English government was interested in the natural resources from overseas territories.

The key idea of mercantilism is that a country's power depends on its wealth. Countries can increase their wealth by owning more gold and silver. What is the best way for a country to get more gold and silver? According to mercantilism, a country must export, or sell to other countries, more goods than it imports, or buys from other countries.

In the 1600s, however, Europeans developed new business methods. Historians call this the Commercial Revolution.

Commerce is the buying and selling of goods in large amounts over long distances.

This type of commerce needed large amounts of money in order to be profitable. So, a new type of businessperson called an entrepreneur emerged.

Entrepreneurs invest, or put money into a project. Their goal is to make money from the success of the project.

To solve these problems, merchants began hiring peasants to make goods, especially wool cloth in their homes. This system became known as the cottage industry because the small houses where peasants lived and worked were called cottages.

As Europe's trade expanded, a global exchange of people, goods, technology, ideas—and even diseases—began. Historians call this transfer the Columbian Exchange, after Christopher Columbus. The Columbian Exchange transformed the economies of Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Americas.