Starting in the Mid-15th century, many European nations sent out explorers in order to find new sea routes, as well as new territories. That’s how Christopher Columbus stumbled upon the West Indies and therefore indirectly opened up the New World for others to explore. On the quest to create more wealth for their own nation through mercantilist policies, Europeans, as well as different religious groups, colonized the New World one by one. In the process of colonizing, when the European nations realized they needed a workforce to support the production of their cash crops, they brought over African slaves as part of the Columbian exchange which in turn introduced a solution - and a new problem. For the mercantilist European nations, their colonies were important as they produced raw materials - grain, sugar, or tobacco - for the nation, which otherwise they would have to import. The colonies also gave the European nations an outlet for exports, which increased jobs and industrial development. Although, if the colonies traded with other countries other than their “mother country,” none of that would happen, therefore Britain took legal steps to force its colonists to buy and trade only with England by introducing the Navigation Acts. For example, tobacco and other raw materials had to be shipped to england to first be taxed and/or …show more content…
While both of these exchanges involved trading between countries, the Columbian exchange often included unintended movement such as diseases, language, and culture. Also while the Columbian exchange was between two regions (Europe and the East coast of America), the Triangular trade extended between three different regions (Europe, America, and the West coast of Africa). Also the name of the Triangular trade route itself, is actually about the paths trading ships followed, in comparison to the Columbian exchange which was basically just an exchange of a large variety of