Modernization Case

An era is defined by the events that took place and the new inventions or ideas that have come out of it that will influence the next. It also can be defined by the strengthening of traditions and culture to keep faith, ceremonies, and morals alive by instilling them in the each new generation; some cultures have been successful the continuation of old ways and some haven't because of invasion or because change was simply unavoidable. During the modern era, change was something that was happening all the time and almost completely. Countries that had once closed or limited their trade ports to foreign countries had either opened them by choice or by force and from there items and ideas were being imported and exported out because of globalization. European empires set out for the New World and began conquering the people there and brought change to the New World. Religion itself also underwent a new change with different factions branching off from Christianity.

Trade is a key factor to change in the modern world; it allows cultures to blend together and new goods to be exchanged in a new market. Many foreign items that came into Europe were created by artisans who designed items that catered to European tastes. In the visual image 15.1 on page 713, there is a painting of European woman and her child drinking tea imported from China and in front of the painting are teacups from China as well. On one of the teacups you can see a little European style house painted onto it and the artisans did this because it was a smart thing to do business wise; you introduce a new item into a new market that has some characteristics of the country you're selling it in. It allowed a majority of Eurasia's economy to be controlled by traders and artisans/craftsmen because the exchanging of goods during this time was the economy; a country that was exporting a lot of goods generally was very wealthy. Change is obvious in this because if it wasn't for these new trade ports being opened, items like tea wouldn't have been introduced into European society and it wouldn't have become a staple drink for many European countries. The start of the Atlantic Slave Trade also became a major role in cash crop productions in European colonies. The Europeans saw that Africans already had resilience to the tropical diseases that were affecting non-African slaves and that they were good farmers, a skill that was needed for the booming agriculture production in the Americas. It grew to the point where the slave trade was a key player in the trade economy and provided a shift from indentured servitude, which made up almost all European slavery pre-Atlantic Slave Trade, to the buying and selling of African slaves.

The exploration of the New World meant new discoveries and new peoples. The colonizing of the Americas, specifically North America, allowed for the countries that we have now to be formed. Britain was a bit late to the colonization of the Americas and because