History
Assignment 1.2: A Changing World Final Paper
Due Week 5 and worth 140 points
The discovery of America and that of the passage to the East Indies by the Cape of Good Hope, are the two (2) greatest events recorded in the history of [human] kind Adam Smith, in The Wealth of Nations,1776. Think about why he and many other notables supported this statement, especially concerning the discovery of America. What was so important about this New World across the Atlantic Ocean from Europe? How did it change globalization in terms of trade, culture, societies, innovations, new and old world exchanges, and in other ways?
You have already developed a thesis statement and developed an outline in which you identify three (3) main points relevant to your topic. Now you will develop the final paper in which you explore your main points in detail.
Write a three to five (3-5) page paper in which you:
Introduce your paper with your previously crafted thesis statement.
Identify three (3) major aspects that demonstrate Old and New World exchanges. Explain your responses with specific examples and details.
Identify three (3) specific groups that were affected by this global event and provide two (2) examples for each group describing how the group was affected.
Summarize how this discovery affected the life of the average working American during the colonial period. Use specific examples and details.
Use at least three (3) academic references besides or in addition to the textbook.
Note: Wikipedia and other similar websites do not qualify as academic resources.
Below is the outline and thesis paper to use for the paper
Thesis
When jumping ship from what is considered to a better world to a new one that is seen to be much better with a lot of resources yet unexploited, there are several uncertainties that are involved, and their consequences are not known. The exodus into America by Columbus had consequences that entirely changed the whole world and not just those who moved into the great nation of untapped resources.
1. Determine three (3) major aspects that demonstrate Old and New World exchanges.
a. Columbus initiated trade between three continents that was America, Africa and Europe.
b. The movement by Columbus also brought about industrialization to Americans.
c. Cash crop farming of sugar was introduced to the Americans who were subsistence farmers (Columbian Exchange, 2020).
1. List five (5) specific groups that were affected by this event. Provide two (2) examples for each cohort describing how they were affected.
a. Africans were colonized and some of them taken as slaves to serve their colonial masters.
b. Average Americans lost their jobs cheap slave labor and
c. European traders and explorers found colonies in Africa, and America and connected the world through their trade as they earned profits.
d. Europeans back at home benefited from the processed sugar and other goods that were brought from America and Africa and also got diseases that came from the colonies (“Environmental and health effects of European contact with the New World,” 2020).
e. Rich Americans increased their wealth immensely through the trade and industrialization and got cheap labor from African slaves.
1. List five (5) ways that the creation of new global trade routes affected the occupations and lifestyles of the average working American in the colonies.
a. Jobs were lost due to cheap African labor from the slaves (Ostrander, 2019).
b. The gap between the rich and poor Americans grew much bigger.
c. They were exposed to new diseases from Africa which they never had a cure for, hence reducing their population.
d. Racial diversity was introduced to the Native Americans.
e. The average Americans changed their way of farming from subsistence farming to cash crop farming.
References:
1. The Columbian Exchange. (2020). Khan Academy. Retrieved April 28, 2020, from https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/us-history/precontact-and-early-colonial-era/old-and-new-worlds-collide/a/the-columbian-exchange-ka
2. Environmental and health effects of European contact with the New World. (2020). Khan Academy. https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/us-history/precontact-and-early-colonial-era/old-and-new-worlds-collide/a/environmental-and-health-effects-of-contact
3. Ostrander, G. M. (2019). The making of the triangular trade myth. Slave Trade and Migration, 313-322. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315057613-17