Title: The Turning Point: European Conquests of the Americas (1492-1800)
Headings: The Turning Point: European Conquests of the Americas (1492-1800)
The Turning Point: European Conquests of the Americas (1492-1800)
Content: Much of this silver eventually ended up in China, but we’ll learn more about that later. The depopulation of large regions of the Americas also led Europeans to search for cheap labor. Perhaps the most important consequence of the Colombian Exchange was the forced migration and enslavement of millions of people. While the Spanish conquered Mexico and Peru, the Portuguese subjugated Brazil and, as a result, led the way in trafficking enslaved people to the Americas. They started in 1441 in western Africa (Getz 86). Ironically, the Europeans’ insatiable appetite for sweetness led to this brutal trade. Wherever the sugarcane crop dominated, so too did plantations with enslaved labor. Unlike Mexico or Peru, the Portuguese colony of Brazil lacked precious metals near the coast. So the Portuguese developed sugar plantations outfitted with enslaved Africans. The Portuguese took sugarcane grass from its native homeland in South and East Asia, transplanted it to Brazil, and then sold the sugar to Europe and colonial North America.