The encounter that began in 1492 among the peoples of the Eastern and Western Hemispheres
was one of the truly epochal events in world history
THE SIGNIFICANCE OF 1492
Christopher Columbus's "discovery" of the New World was commemorated with a
massive "Columbian Exhibition"
Identified Columbus with imperialism, colonialism, and conquest
this cultral collision produced an extraordinary transformation in the new world, and it also
changes in the old world.
SLAVERY AND SPANISH
COLONIZATION
Slavery was a familiar institution to many sixteenth-century
Europeans
Several factors made African slaves the cheapest and most expedient labor source.
THE MAKING OF AMERICA
TWO PERSPECTIVES
LAND OF RICHES
CANNIBALISM
THE BLACK LEGEND
The Black Legend provided powerful ideological sanction for English involvement in the New
World
EUROPEAN COMMERCIAL AND FINANCIAL EXPANSION
Christopher Columbus's voyages of discovery were part of a much broader
pattern of European commercial and financial expansion during the fifteenth
century