Glossary
Columbian Exchange
The widespread transfer of plants, animals, culture, human populations, technology, diseases, and ideas between the Americas (the New World) and the Old World (Europe, Africa, and Asia) in the 15th and 16th centuries.
Example:
The Columbian Exchange brought potatoes from the Americas to Europe, which became a staple crop that significantly boosted European population growth.
Consumer Culture
A social and economic order that encourages the acquisition of goods and services in ever-increasing amounts, driven by increased availability and demand for luxury items.
Example:
The growing European demand for sugar and coffee in the 17th and 18th centuries fueled the rise of a consumer culture, leading to the expansion of plantations in the Americas.
Favorable Balance of Trade
An economic goal within mercantilism where a nation exports more goods and services than it imports, leading to an inflow of wealth, typically in gold and silver.
Example:
England sought a favorable balance of trade with its American colonies, forcing them to sell raw materials only to England and buy finished goods exclusively from the mother country, ensuring wealth flowed into London.
Mercantilism
An economic theory emphasizing that a nation's wealth and power are best increased by maximizing exports and minimizing imports, aiming to accumulate gold and silver.
Example:
During the 17th century, France implemented mercantilism by imposing high tariffs on imported goods and subsidizing domestic industries to ensure it exported more than it imported, thereby increasing its national treasury.
Middle Passage
The brutal and deadly sea journey undertaken by enslaved Africans from West Africa to the West Indies and the Americas as part of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade.
Example:
Many enslaved Africans perished during the Middle Passage due to the horrific conditions, including overcrowding, disease, and starvation, on the slave ships.
Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade
The forced transportation of enslaved African people across the Atlantic Ocean to the Americas, primarily to work on plantations and in mines, from the 16th to the 19th centuries.
Example:
The immense demand for labor on sugar plantations in the Caribbean directly led to the massive scale of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, forcibly relocating millions of Africans.
Triangular Trade
A system of trade routes that developed between Europe, Africa, and the Americas, primarily involving the exchange of manufactured goods, enslaved people, and raw materials.
Example:
The Triangular Trade saw European ships carry textiles and weapons to Africa, exchange them for enslaved people, transport them to the Americas, and then return to Europe with sugar, tobacco, and other raw materials.