Geographical Exploration Impact

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Impact of Geographical Explorations John Doe History of Trade 547 March 25, 2016 Geographical exploration holds a very important place in the history of Europe and even in the world history. It was due to these discoveries that the world became a smaller place. By the beginning of the 15th century, big ships were built and the magnetic compass was invented. Owing to the geographical exploration and discoveries, Europeans were led to Asia, Africa and America. Thus different results were produced in different places. While America was speedily Europeanized, Asia, and Africa were affected less promptly and less deeply. Though the desire to simply explore the unknown and discover new knowledge is a typical human trait, the…show more content…
After the discovery of the new routes, Europe secured plentiful supplies of not only old and essential articles, but also of many new ones. There was a wide and extensive market in Europe of articles such as Indian textiles and Persian carpets. Several new articles such as potatoes, chocolate, cocoa, quinine, tobacco, cane-sugar, furs, whale oil, indigo, tea, coffee, porcelain, cotton silks and spices were introduced in Europe. With the increase in the number and quantities of commodities entering Europe, there was a decline in prices. Europeans began to consume many of the originally scarce foreign goods as staple commodities. “Western Europe bought luxury goods from China (known as Cathay). Marco Polo's experiences there in the thirteenth century were known, but there was little first-hand knowledge of the orient. Commodities were transported overland by the ‘Silk Route'. Besides expensive luxuries, a vital resource was spices (from the Moluccas, or ‘Spice Islands'), essential for preserving food.”1 As a wider variety of global luxury commodities entered the European markets by sea, previous European markets for luxury goods stagnated. The Atlantic trade largely supplanted pre-existing Italian and German trading powers which had relied on their Baltic, Russian and Islamic trade links. The new commodities…show more content…
“A discovery of new trade routes and newcountries helped make it possible for trade to become worldwide in nature; there was a huge increase in the quantity ofgoods in circulation.”2 This accelerated the processes of the decay of feudalism and the emergence of capitalist relations inWestern Europe. The colonial system that took shape after the great geographical discoveries (as early as this period, theEuropeans annihilated indigenous populations in seizing vast territories in America and organized bases on the coast ofAfrica and in South and East Asia) was one of the key factors in the so-called primitive accumulation of capital. This process was also promoted by the influx, after the discoveries, of cheap American gold and silver into Europe, resulting in a substantial increase in prices in the latter. The shift in trade routes from the Mediterranean Sea to the Atlantic Ocean thatresulted from the great geographical discoveries contributed to the economic decline of some European countries (Italy and,to some extent, Germany) and the rise to prominence of others (the Netherlands and England). The Russian great geographical discoveries facilitated the colonization of
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