Essay On American Imperialism

The imperialism of the years 1450-1750 AD spurred the creation of colonies by Western European nations, which include Spain, Britain, France, and the Netherlands, within the “New World,” or the Americas. Due to the creation of these colonies, the “New World” and the “Old World” exchanged various crops, livestock, and many more goods. This is known as the Columbian Exchange. The Columbian Exchange vastly changed the culture and many aspects of the indigenous people of the Americas and the people of Europe. When the Spanish arrived and conquered much of South America and a great chunk of North America, a new social system was put into place. The native Spanish were at the top of the class and the Spanish that were born in the Americas were second in line; however, the conquest by Spain stimulated the formation of a few new classes, one which included the mestizo, or the mixture of a Spaniard and a Native American. In addition, the population expanded greatly due to the introduction of the potato to the “Old World.” The potato was an easy crop to grow and filled up the stomach. Continuing on the crop side of the Columbian Exchange, the exchange and formation of new crops triggered more labor

In addition, the European government gained a great amount of money from the trade going on between the two land masses by taxing individuals. Tax played a huge role in the colonial times because the people were heavily taxed which benefitted the empires of europe; however, heavy taxation spurred rebellions, such as which we will see made by the United States. Also, many new systems were introduced in the colonies such as the Spanish encomienda repartimiento systems and many courts and legal systems created to try the people of the