Europe’s Impact on
the New World
. . . and what the New World taught Europe.
The Explorers
• Columbus
• Wanted to find a short route to Asia. Bumped into
the New World by mistake.
• Hudson
• Henry Hudson was looking for a northern passage
to Asia.
• Coronado
• Looking for the 7 cities of gold
• Marquette
• He explored and mapped northern portion of
the Mississippi River.
Columbus Crosses the Atlantic
• The Spanish had three reasons for exploration:
• gold
• land
• religion
This exploration brought about great changes for Europe
and the natives.
Brainstorm…
 What types of changes?
 Did the Europeans know what they were doing?
Colonization – the establishment of distant
settlements controlled by the parent country.
The Spanish established settlements or colonies
using the
following tactics:
superior weaponry
forced labor
Disease ravaged the Native Americans; measles,
mumps, chickenpox, small pox and typhus. By 1600,
it is estimated that only 1 in 25 native peoples
survive the epidemics.
Brainstorm…
As a landowner looking to get rich what
do you do now?
The Slave Trade Begins
As more natives died of disease African
slavery became an essential part of the
European-American economic system.
o “The labor of one …[African]…[is] more valuable
than that of four Indians; every effort should be made
to bring many…[Africans] from Guinea.”
Bartolome De Las Casas
Brainstorm…
• What is the end result of this exploration?
• religious?
• economic?
• food?
• government?
• social?
• When Europe started to come to the New
World they influenced many areas of daily
life.
• Europeans also learned some new things
from the natives.
• The exchange of ideas can be broken into 5
areas:
• 1. Religion 2. Economics 3. Food
4. Government 5. Social
Religion
Conversion
 Most explorers wanted to convert the natives to
Catholic or Protestant. The natives religion wasn’t
understood so it must be wrong.
Atahualpa
 Leader of the Incas. Captured by Pizzaro and held
for ransom. He was to be killed but was offered a
quick death if he converted to Catholicism.
 GOLD
Economics
 Lets face it, the Spanish wanted gold. Treasure
ships were built to haul back the loot.
 England
 Saw the New World as a giant raw materials
location.
 Trade
 This was done with the Columbian Exchange.
Plants, animals, and diseases.
The development of the new world created profound
changes in the new and old world. The exchange of plants,
animals and ideas is known as the Columbian Exchange.
Americas to Europe,
Africa and Asia
•Corn
•Potato
•Pumpkin
•Turkey
•Cacao Bean
Atlantic Ocean
•Disease
•Livestock
•Citrus
•Coffee
Europe, Africa and
Asia to Americas
Food
• To Europe
• Beans, Cocoa, Corn, Peanuts,
Potatoes, Pumpkins, Squash, Sweet
Potatoes, Tobacco, and Tomatoes
• To New World
• Bananas, Citrus, Grains, Peaches,
Pears, & Sugarcane
Government
 Matriarchal Women lead the society. This was found
among the natives. Why?
 Iroquois It was made up of the Confederacy Mohawk,
Oneida, Cayuga, Onondaga & Seneca
nations.
 This idea was adopted as the first
government of the U.S.
Discuss
• Why did European explorers believe they could
simply claim lands for their home countries, even
though these lands were already populated?
• What impact did the Columbian Exchange have on
people’s lives throughout the world?
• Why did Europeans want to colonize the Americas?