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Kaelyn Thimons
Ms. Burke
Honors World History
10 November 2016
How did European exploration and colonization of the Americas affect society?
Martin Luther King Jr. once said, We are not makers of history. We are made by
history. The past lives of those who came before us leave immense impacts on our lives today.
In the 1400s, Europeans began to discover and colonize the Americas. In this process, goods and
cultures spread creating new ways of life. European colonization and exploration distorted the
life styles of the Native Americans, introduced new goods and ideas to the world, and impacted
Africa.
Before any Europeans touched land in the Americas, Natives lived on the land. The
Europeans were like an invasive species to the Native Americans in North America. When the
Europeans arrived, many foreign diseases entered the Americas, such as, small pox, influenza,
measles, and many more. Because these diseases were so new to the area, the Native Americans
had no resistance or immunity to the new diseases. Because of foreign diseases, population
plummeted, which killed a large number of Native Americans. As the settlers claimed more land,
the Native Americans attempted to ward them off and resist their advancements. Native
Americans failed, due to lack of advanced weaponry. They were used to using spears, and bows
and arrows. The Europeans had guns and advanced weaponry, which led to them making
advancements on Native American soil. Due to fighting and European advancement, some
Native American land was damaged, which left many with destroyed or conquered land and

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homes. Native Americans helped the settlers adapt to life in the Americas. They taught them how
to grow new foods, and hunt and trap animals native to the Americas. Europeans also brought
crops and animals over to the Americas, which are now very popular. Today, in the twenty-first
century, many bodies of water and cities are named after Native American tribes. The
relationship between Native Americans and Europeans not only affected what happened in
history, but our lives and our society today and the future.
Triangle trade played a big part in society, colonization and exploration. Triangle trade
was a process composed of three legs, inn which goods and slaves were traded in exchange for
one another. In the first leg, goods were brought to Africa in exchange for slaves. African rulers
and merchants would bring prisoners and many other Africans to the coast of Africa to sell. From
there, Europeans would load them onto ships and there, they would forego the second leg in the
systematic process that is triangle trade. In the second leg, slaves were taken to Africa to the
West Indies. Slaves were traded for sugar, molasses, and other native goods from the West
Indies. This brought Africans and their cultures to new lands. The third leg consists of the
products that were acquired in the second leg, which were shipped in the European colonies in
the Americas, or into Europe itself. The process of triangle trade spread goods to new lands. For
example, corn is found everywhere in America, but it wasnt known of until the Europeans
brought it over. The Europeans also brought religious beliefs to the Americas, such as
Catholicism and Protestantism. Some of the major goods and products we have today would
have never been thought of if it werent for triangle trade, along with colonization and
exploration. This greatly affects the American society.

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European colonization and exploration greatly affected the demographic and lives of
Africans. When the Atlantic slave trade began, Africans were being taken to the America a
slaves. By the mid-1800s, approximately eleven million enslaved Africans reached the
Americas. About two million slaves died during the process of triangle trade without stepping
foot onto land in the Americas. Many slaves died on the ships by starving themselves, jumping
overboard, disease, or committing suicide to put an end to their immense suffering and hardship.
The African rulers and merchants gave up prisoners and war criminals in the slave trade. Many
of the slaves taken from Africa were men, which greatly disturbed the demographic in this
region, Men were able to do most of the labor and fighting in Africa, and because they were
relocated, the African government had to find new ways to manage. Many nations and depended
on the slave trade to boost their economies. Eventually, those nations and their economies
collapsed. This was an open invitation to conquest and colonization. Bitter wars and brutal
fighting broke out between rival African nations. The slave trade not only affected the African
immigration to America, but affects the lives of rival Africans living in the continent of Africa
over time.
In the process of European colonization and exploration, the lives of Native Americans
were disrupted, cultures, ideas, and goods were all introduced to new regions, and Africa and its
people experienced many changes. The lives of those living in the twenty-first century would be
greatly distorted and different if European colonization and exploration would not have taken
place. This goes to show that the past will forever affect the future of society in many ways,
shapes, and forms.

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Works Cited
Axtell, James. Natives and Newcomers: The Cultural Origins of North America. New York:
Oxford University Press, 2001
Pearson, Ellen Holmes. "Teaching History.org, Home of the National History Education
Clearinghouse." The New World: A Stage for Cultural Interaction. The Roy
Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media at George Mason University, n.d. Web.
05 Nov. 2016
"The Impact of Colonialism." Anonymous. South African History Online, 22 Nov. 2011. Web.
05 Nov. 2016
"The Triangular Trade: The Abolition of Slavery Project." The Triangular Trade: The Abolition
of Slavery Project. East of England Broadland Network, 2009. Web. 09 Nov.
2016.
"What Was the Triangular Trade?" WiseGEEK. WiseGEEK, 2003-2004. Web. 05 Nov. 2016.