Unit 4: Transoceanic Interconnections, 1450-1750

"The most important changes brought about by the Columbian voyages were biological in nature. Europeans brought wheat, horses, cattle, and smallpox to the Americas. The Americas gave the world maize, potatoes, tomatoes, and tobacco. The exchange of f

"The closeness of the place, and the heat of the climate, added to the number in the ship, which was so crowded that each had scarcely room to turn himself, almost suffocated us.... The shrieks of the women, and the groans of the dying, rendered the

"They say that the riches that have been taken from Potosí and brought to Spain are enough to build a bridge of silver from Potosí to Madrid. The indigenous workers labor in the mines under the mita system, descending into the mountain for weeks at a

"No Japanese is permitted to go abroad. If there is anyone who attempts to do so secretly, he must be executed. The ship so used must be impounded.... If any Japanese returns from overseas after residing there, he must be put to death.... No single a

"Our ships carry goods from Liverpool to the coast of Africa—textiles, rum, firearms, and metal wares—where they are exchanged for negroes. These poor wretches are carried to our plantations in the West Indies and sold. The ships then load sugar, rum