On the Columbian Exchange

The period of global interaction inaugurated by Columbus's arrival in the Western hemisphere lay the groundwork for much of the social, cultural, and political changes worldwide in the 16th and 17th centuries. These changes were either developments resulting from this interaction or reactions against it. Specific examples include demographic changes Brazil, the political transformation of Russia, and the closing of Japan to the west.

Slavery was a major driver of demographic change in the 16th and 17th centuries, and Fernandez-Armesto discusses at length how the need for agricultural labor in the tropical regions of the western hemisphere with pre-existing ability to tolerate extreme heat and humidity drove the slave trade to increase exponentially over the period under discussion. In Brazil, the influx of black slaves from sub-Saharan Africa by nominally Christian plantation owners, under the careful eye of Catholic missionary organizations, resulted in a syncretic effect on black religious belief. The confraternities that arose, which Fernandez-Armesto calls "lay brotherhoods" dedicated to "black artistic vocations and religious devotion … centered on the cult images."[1] The author then goes on to describe how, rather than having a placating effect on slaves, Black Catholicism was a motivating force for self-empowerment even within the obviously strict confines of slavery.

Politically, global interaction affected the role of government in Russia under the guiding hand of Tsar Peter the Great. Fernandez-Armesto notes that Peter modeled his political reforms on what he observed in central and western Europe while traveling incognito, modeling his new capital city of St. Petersburg on the Baltic Sea on the rapidly growing cities of Amsterdam, Paris, and London. Not coincidentally, these cities were all capitals of metropoles of large empires that enriched themselves through colonialism. Peter observed the influx of wealth into these cities and countries and, in emulating them, introduced Russia permanently into the community of European nations, both as member of military alliances and as a trade partner.

However, as noted, not all of the changes wrought by global interaction were marked by positive reactions. Fernandez-Armesto discusses how, unlike in the Americas, where Christianity was largely embraced by the population, Christianity was unsuccessful in penetrating Japan because the Japanese leadership suppressed its practice. He mentions this suppression in the context of both an increasing closing of Japan to the west, reporting that the government "practically forbade its subjects to travel overseas,"[2] as well as Japan's resultant embrace of Buddhism and its melding withindigenous ancestor worship. Fernandez-Armesto nevertheless notes that Japan's rejection of the west and westerners did not negate its imperial endeavors or economic growth. The latter factor transformed Japanese politically, such that the power of the samurai declined, while the shogunate emerged, with the shoguns playing roles similar to the empowered nobility of the European monarchies or the mandarins of the late Ming Dynasty in China.

Clearly the global exchange of the post-Columbian period had enormous effects worldwide, politically, socially, and culturally. Politically, economic transformation as a result of colonialism resulted in the tsardom of Peter the Great in Russia and the shoguns in Japan. Socially and culturally, the rapidly shifting demographic nature of the western hemisphere resulted in the rise of a unique form of Christianity that stood in contrast to its European original, while the same religion was rejected in Japan in favor of more "authentic" Asian forms of belief. While it cannot be conclusively stated that these changes would not have occurred without the global exchange following 1492, it is unlikely to have happened as rapidly and pervasively without it.

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[1] Felipe Fernandez-Armesto, The World: A History, vol. 2, 3rd ed. (New York: Pearson, 2015), 511.

[2] Ibid, 446.

Stuff I'm Reading

The Shaping of Modern America: 1877-1920, Vincent P. DeSantis
The Muslims of Medieval Italy, Alex Metcalfe