Compare And Contrast The Silk Road And The Columbian Exchange

Based on close study of two eras of increased interconnections in global history, the Post-Classical Trade Routes and the Early Modern, Columbian Exchange, we should expect significant changes after we make contact with an alien civilization. Two of these changes are the spread of disease and cultural diffusion and syncretism.

The first historical event that can help us understand interconnection is the trading routes of the Post-Classical Era. This was a time of flourishing economies, and the Silk Road was a crucial part of that. These trade routes extended all the way from China to Rome, and made it easier for people to get goods from all over Europe and Asia. This allowed ideas and valuables to be spread all across the two continents, which

The downside to this is that it allowed disease to spread all over the continents. The bubonic plague, more commonly known as the Black Death, killed millions of Europeans. Over the duration of the plague, the European population went from 53.2 million to 37 million (Document 1). This shows how devastating the Black Death was in Europe. The Mongols controlled China for a portion of this time. They reopened the Silk Road and are believed to be partially responsible for the bubonic plague (Document 6). They made it very easy for disease to travel all over Europe and infect millions of people. The trade routes had many advantages, but also caused one of the biggest pandemics in history.

After that came the Early Modern Era. During this time, Columbus discovered the Eastern hemisphere and completely changed the world. As more and more Europeans came to the new world, they brought over all kinds of diseases. Due to this, the Native American population plummeted. From 1520 to about 1600, the indigenous population in central Mexico went from roughly 25 million to under 2 million (Document 10). Disease played a huge role in this and was primarily the cause of these

European conquistadors were committed to converting Native Americans to Christianity. They went around the continents, conquering territories and forcing the people there to become Christians. After many years, most of the natives that were left had converted. Our Lady of Guadalupe is a famous vision of Mary that appeared to a native Mexican man, Juan Diego, on his way to Church. The vision he saw of her was much darker than other versions and spoke to the man in his native language, Nahuatl. There are many elements of Aztec religion on the cloak she appeared on and a church was built on Tepeyac, a sacred Aztec place (Document 9). Indigenous people accepted the Lady of Guadalupe as an important part of their culture and found a way to combine their Aztec religion into Catholicism. During this time, the slave trade out of West Africa was taking place. The people were brought all over the world to work as slaves. The slaves in Puerto Rico created a type of music with both African and Puerto Rican influences. The music is called Bomba and tells a story of the African people’s struggles (Document 15). This shows how music can become combined to create something very meaningful to two