UNIT 3 AGE OF
EXPLORATION
LESSON 5 EUROPEANS RACED TO THE
AMERICAS (RACED)
EUROPEANS RACED TO THE
AMERICAS (RACED)
Learning Target
Students can explain how Spanish colonization of the Americas led to
an exchange of cultures between the old and new world
EUROPEANS RACED TO THE
AMERICAS (RACED)
R – Rigid class system emerges
• Spanish (pure blood Spanish families)
• Mestizos (mixture of Spanish
and Native American families)
• Native Americans (slaves and
natives to the land)
EUROPEANS RACED TO THE
AMERICAS (RACED)
A – African slaves increased production of resources
• Africans were brought to the Americas by the Portuguese which solved
the labor problem in the Americans
• Slaves were used to work the plantations that produced sugar cane,
tobacco, and coffee
• The shipment of slaves became part of the triangular trade routes
• The slave trade spread to north as European colonies began expanding
to North America
• In the 1700’s England takes control of the slave trade from Spain and
creates southern plantations
EUROPEANS RACED TO THE
AMERICAS (RACED)
C – Columbian Exchange
• Exchange of products between the old (Europe) and new (Americas)
worlds
• New to Old – corn, tobacco, potatoes, cotton, sugar, coffee, and gold
• Old to New – horses, cattle, Christianity, and diseases
• These goods forever changed the lives of the places to which they were
taken
EUROPEANS RACED TO THE
AMERICAS (RACED)
E – Europeans immigrate to the Americas
• Oversees trading of goods results in expansion of capitalism (system of
economics based on private ownership)
• Entrepreneurs saw an opportunity to invest (lend money for profit) in the
great wealth of the Americas
EUROPEANS RACED TO THE
AMERICAS (RACED)
D – Development of Mercantilism in America
• As a result of the immigration to the Americas, Europeans competed to
make money in foreign markets
• Europeans wanted to establish colonies (settlements ruled by a parent
country) to create markets to sell their resources and products
• Mercantilism is the belief that wealth = power
EUROPEANS RACED TO THE
AMERICAS (RACED)
D – Development of Mercantilism in America cont…
• The measure of wealth is based on the amount of bullion (gold and silver)
a person has
• Spain takes a lot of bullion from the New World (causes problems like
inflation and low productivity in Europe)
EUROPEANS RACED TO THE
AMERICAS (RACED)
Key Terms
Plantations
Triangular Trade
Columbian Exchange
Capitalism
Invest
Mercantilism
Colony