One of the most important consequences of the Age of Discovery was the creation of the first global economy in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Many factors help to shape life in european colonies, including geographical location, religion and indigenous cultures and practices. Not all commodities arrived intentionally. The migration of people to New World led to a process known as the Columbian exchange, an exchange of disease, plants and animals. An example of this would be Colombus, who brought sugar plants on his second voyage or Spaniards who introduced rice and bananas from the Canary Islands. New commodities were a budding resource. Precious metals, spices and sugar drove the economy. After Columbus, the world was unified by