Definition: The widespread transfer of plants, animals, diseases, ideas, technology, and people between the Eastern and Western Hemispheres after 1492.

🌽 Foods Transferred

🐴 Animals Transferred to the Americas

• Horses 🐎 - Transformed Native American transportation, hunting, and warfare; revolutionized Plains cultures
• Cattle 🐄 - Used for meat, hides, and milk; led to extensive ranching
• Pigs 🐖 - Provided meat; became invasive species that damaged crops
• Sheep and Goats - Used for meat, wool, and milk
• Chickens - Provided eggs and meat

⚠️ Disease Transfer (Most Devastating Impact)

• Smallpox - Most devastating; Native Americans had no immunity
• Measles, influenza, typhus, whooping cough, malaria
• Impact: Approximately 90% of Native American populations died from European diseases
• Example: Taíno people numbered ~300,000 in 1492; by 1508, fewer than 100,000 survived
• Europeans had developed immunity through centuries of exposure; Native Americans had not

💰 Mineral Wealth

• Gold and Silver - Extracted from Mexico and Peru (especially Potosí mines)
• Fueled European economic growth and shift from feudalism to capitalism
• Created first true money supply since Roman Empire
• Enabled global trading networks and investment capital

🎯 Motivations for Spanish Exploration

• Economic: Search for gold, silver, and trade routes to Asia ("El Dorado")
• Religious: Spread Christianity (Catholicism) to indigenous peoples
• Political: Competition with Portugal; expand Spanish Empire
• Personal: Fame, glory, social advancement, land grants

👥 Key Spanish Explorers and Conquistadors

⛓️ Encomienda System

• Spanish colonizers granted rights to Native American labor in specific areas
• Attempted to replicate feudalism in the Americas
• Placed Spanish at top of social hierarchy; Native Americans forced into peasant labor
• Natives supposed to receive protection and Christian conversion; in practice, led to brutal exploitation
• Used for plantation agriculture and mining precious metals

⛪ Mission System

• Spanish established missions throughout territories to convert Native Americans to Catholicism
• Missions served as religious, cultural, and economic centers
• Franciscan and Dominican missionaries accompanied conquistadors

🏰 New Spain (Nueva España)

• Spanish colonial territory including present-day Mexico, Central America, Caribbean, and parts of US
• Capital: Mexico City (built on ruins of Tenochtitlán)
• Governed by viceroyalty system
• Primary goal: extracting wealth (gold, silver from Mexican and Peruvian mines)

📈 Shift from Feudalism to Capitalism

• New crops (maize, potatoes) increased European food supply → population growth → expanded labor force and markets
• Mineral wealth (gold, silver) created liquid capital for investment and trade
• Joint-stock companies developed to finance risky overseas ventures; pooled resources and spread risk
• Examples: Virginia Company, British East India Company
• Wealth shifted from feudal lords to merchants, financiers, and centralized states
• Stimulated global trade networks and commercial economies

⚙️ Maritime Technology Improvements

• Caravel: Portuguese ship with lateen (triangular) sail; could tack against wind
• Navigation tools: Magnetic compass, astrolabe (calculated latitude), improved maps
• Multi-masted designs increased cargo capacity
• Made long Atlantic voyages safer and more profitable

🔗 Development of Cash Crop Economies

• Sugar, tobacco, cotton, indigo, coffee plantations
• Produced for export to Europe for profit
• Led to demand for enslaved African labor (Atlantic Slave Trade)
• Created global commodity markets tied to profit and investment

• Death toll: 90% of Native populations died within a century (primarily from disease)
• Combined effects: Disease, warfare, forced labor, displacement
• Disrupted family structures, political leadership, oral knowledge transmission
• Loss of languages, traditions, cultural practices
• Created labor shortages → accelerated Atlantic Slave Trade
• Made resistance to European conquest extremely difficult
• Some Native groups organized rebellions and everyday resistance
• Survivors adapted to Spanish rule while maintaining aspects of cultural identity

🏺 Aztec Empire (Mexica)

• Located: Valley of Mexico; Capital: Tenochtitlán
• Advanced agriculture, architecture, social structure
• Conquered by Hernán Cortés 1519-1521

⛰️ Inca Empire

• Located: Andean region of South America; Capital: Cusco
• Extensive road network, terraced agriculture, administrative achievements
• Conquered by Francisco Pizarro 1532-1533

🗿 Mayan Civilization

• Located: Yucatán Peninsula, Guatemala, Belize, Honduras
• Advanced mathematics, writing system, calendar, astronomy
• Not unified under single ruler; consisted of city-states