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Frames in Era 5
Frames in Era 5
The connection of Afro-Eurasia with the Americas established the first truly global network, creating waves of change all over the world, but not with the same results for all.
As this video progresses, key ideas will be introduced to invoke discussion.
Think about the following questions as you watch the video
Why was the Columbian Exchange the world’s first global system, according to the video?
What were some large changes in this period related to the communities frame?
What were some large changes in this period related to the production and distribution frame?
What were some large changes in this period related to the networks frame?
: (music playing)
: In this era, we look at two large-scale changes
: to the world's systems-– one after the other-–
: each of which was really important
: in creating the world in which we lived and now live.
: The first change, in the mid 14th century,
: was to the network that connected
: Africa, Asia, and Europe-- really, Afro-Eurasia.
: Separate from the regional networks in the Americas,
: the new Afro-Eurasian network
: broke down because of disease beginning in the 1340s.
: But then, later, it grew again.
: In the midst of this recovery, the second change occurred.
: People from the Afro-Eurasian system
: made contact with people in the Americas.
: What followed was the Columbian Exchange,
: a major change that brought the world's networks together.
: We often hear that the Columbian Exchange
: is the world's first global system.
: Christopher Columbus was not the first person from Afro-Eurasia
: to make contact with societies in the Americas.
: But after his arrival,
: the Afro-Eurasian and American systems began
: a permanent, sustained relationship for the first time.
: That's a pretty big deal.
: But what really changed as a result?
: How can we understand these changes
: in the context of the frames?
: Certainly, we can look at the Columbian Exchange
: in terms of changing ideas of community.
: The European entry to-–
: and gradual conquest of-– the Americas
: permanently put an end to many American communities.
: These communities-- from loose confederations
: and small egalitarian communities
: to vast empires like those of the Inca and Aztec-–
: never recovered.
: We still don't know a great deal about some of these societies
: and the way they were organized.
: At the same time, the Atlantic slave trade
: became a big part of the Columbian Exchange
: and severely damaged many African societies.
: During this era, vast new oceanic empires
: emerged based in Europe.
: Many of them were run as a partnerships
: between corporations and states
: like the Portuguese Company of the Indies
: and the Dutch East India Company.
: These same historical processes
: also dramatically altered
: global patterns of production and distribution.
: The new European-based empires in the Americas
: created new methods to produce the goods they wanted-–
: the transatlantic slave trade and the plantation system.
: These allowed the European-based empires
: to mass-produce consumer goods like sugar and tobacco.
: The colonies in the Americas
: also produced more silver than the world had ever seen.
: Europeans used this silver to buy their way
: into the biggest markets of them all-–
: the vast economies of China and South Asia.
: All these items-–
: sugar and tobacco crossing the Atlantic to Europe,
: silver going to Asia,
: and fine silk and porcelain coming back-–
: traveled on bigger and better ships
: and a wider system of distribution than ever before.
: So, too, did people-–
: not only traders and migrants,
: but also enslaved people.
: New banking and finance technologies
: were developed to pay for these trips.
: These new technologies-–
: both physical and financial-–
: moved goods and people.
: They also carried ideas,
: philosophies, and religions,
: throughout the new global network.
: Visitors and migrants moved to new areas with their own ideas.
: These ideas mixed to create new concepts and belief systems.
: The Americas, in particular,
: became a meeting place for indigenous, African,
: and European faiths and philosophies.
: Travelers also brought experiences back
: from the places they visited.
: Europe benefited from experiences and learning
: gained by missionaries and traders who traveled abroad
: in Asia, the Pacific, Africa, and the Americas.
: Of course, not everyone benefited equally
: from these new networks,
: new systems of production and distribution,
: or new communities.
: Understanding how and why peoples' places
: in these systems differed,
: and the long legacy of those differences
: can be one important way
: to use history to understand the present.