Significan Mercantilism In The Columbian Exchange

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Encomiendas: An encomienda was a grant of Native American labor given to prominent European men in the Americas by the Spanish king. This grant allowed European men to extract tribute from natives in the form of labor and goods. The value of the grants was dramatically increased with the discovery of gold and silver in the Americas. The significance of this term is that although this system was eventually repartitioned, it initiated the tradition of prominent men controlling vast resources and monopolizing native labor.

Columbian Exchange: The Columbian Exchange was an exchange of peoples, animals, diseases, and foods between hemispheres. Foods and diseases from the New World, such as maize, potatoes, and syphilis, were carried to Europe. Food, livestock, and diseases, such as wheat, barley, cattle, horses, smallpox, measles, and influenza, traveled across the Atlantic to the New World. This term is …show more content…

It was expected to result in a favorable balance of trade, with imports not exceeding exports. The significance of this term is that this system allowed gold and silver to flow into England, bringing economic expansion. As a result, these mercantile policies laid the ground for overseas colonization and allowed England to rise as a challenge to Spanish power in the New World.

Jamestown: Jamestown was an English settlement in America, located in Virginia and named after King James I. The first group of men to arrive were dispatched to Jamestown by the Virginia Company of London. The men of Jamestown experienced several problems, such as lack of gold, inadequate food and water, disease, and an inability to dominate the native population. This term is significant because Jamestown was the first permanent English settlement in America, laying the foundation for the eventual colonization of the rest of

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