What Were The Motives For The Columbian Exchange

"God, gold, and glory" is a simple way of expressing the motives behind the colonial expansion of Europe. "God", was the motivation of European missionaries to spread the word of the gospel, specifically the Jesuits, "Gold" was the motivation of merchants (and governments) to increase their overall wealth, and "Glory" represented an enormous power, which governments were willing to fight for. With this mantra, came the eventual discovery and colonization of Americas, which would contribute to the price revolution of Europe and the cultural and economic circulation of traditions and merchandise over the Atlantic, or in other words, the Columbian Exchange. Overall, the expansion of colonies in America shifted the center of economic power in Europe from the Mediterranean

Before the price revolution and the rise in inflation, principal explorers, such as Chrisopher Columbus, greatly contributed to the expansion of European colonies. The ultimate discovery of the Americas eventually led to an arrangement of Spanish settlements in the new world, existing only to benefit Spain, it's mother country, as the native Indians were quickly utilized for mining and cultivating land. Soon, in 1545, an abundant silver mine at Potosí, Peru was found. For an extensive time, the riches of the Potosí silver mine circulated between the Americas and Spain, specifically 500,000 pounds of silver and 10,000 pounds of gold. Years later, trading routes between Spanish colonies were established. "Manilla Galleons", Spanish trading ships, would transport silver from Acapulco, a Spanish settlement, to Manilla, another Spanish settlement. At Manilla, the silver would be traded for sought after Chinese goods, for instance, spices, porcelain, and ivory, which would then be hauled to Europe. The Spanish trading ships carried, perhaps, one-third of all silver from the mines in the Americas, which would be dispatched to Asia, effectively creating a