THE COLUMBIAN EXCHANGE AND GLOBAL TRADE

By: Sam and Geoffrey

Essential Questions

What are some positives and negatives of the Columbian Exchange?

How did the Eastern Hemisphere gain money?

Vocabulary

Columbian Exchange- the global trade of foods, plants, and animals during the colonization of the Americas

Capitalism- an economic system based on private ownership and the investment of resources for profit

Joint Stock Company- investors bought shares of stock from a company

Mercantilism- an economic system dependent on wealth

Favorable Balance of Trade- sold more goods than it bought.

The Columbian Exchange This Exchange introduced many new

items to the Eastern Hemisphere Including: tomatoes, squash, pineapples,

tobacco, and coco beans The most important items to the Eastern

Hemisphere were corn and potatoes because they were both nutritious and cheap. These two foods drastically boosted the population of the Eastern Hemisphere.

The Columbian Exchange Cont.

The Exchange also introduced many new items to Native Americans such as pigs, horses, bananas, rice, and wheat.

The Columbian Exchange also introduced many disease to the Native Americans such as Smallpox and Measles. This killed millions of Native Americans.

Global Trade

Joint-Stock Companies and Capitalism doubled Europe’s wealth.

Capitalism created private business so governments weren’t the only owners of business. This increased the economic activity and business flourished. This also caused inflation though, increasing the prices of many goods.

Global Trade Cont.

Joint-Stock Companies allowed people to buy shares of stock from a company. People combined their money for colonization. If the colony failed the people who invested in the colony would only loose the little money they invested, but if the colony flourished the investors would share in profit.

The Growth of Mercantilism Wealth became the main goal of most nations

in Europe and there were two ways to obtain that wealth.

First the nation would obtain as much gold and silver possible. Then next they could establish a favorable balance of trade, meaning they would sell more goods than bought increasing their wealth.

Even though an economic revolution was going on many people were still poor and lived in rural areas.