o Overview
-> Trade continuity and expansion
-> Production and labor change
-> Agriculture and environments
o Trade continuity and expansion
-> Before 1450, Afro-Eurasian merchants linked regional markets.
-> Indian Ocean and overland networks remained active after 1450.
-> European fleets entered rather than invented these markets.
-> Sustained Atlantic links added the Americas to wider exchange.
-> American silver connected mines to Chinese demand via Manila.
-> Global routes grew while regional merchants kept influence.
o Production and labor change
-> Peasant farming and artisan workshops remained widespread.
-> Indian cotton and Chinese silk met growing export demand.
-> Export demand intensified household and workshop labor.
-> American plantations expanded coerced export production.
-> Atlantic demand expanded slavery and hereditary bondage.
-> Earlier coercion persisted; racialized bondage grew stronger.
o Agriculture and environments
-> Agriculture remained the main livelihood in most societies.
-> Maize and potatoes widened Afro-Eurasian food supplies.
-> New crops supported population growth in suitable regions.
-> Plantation clearing and imported livestock altered habitats.
-> Farming persisted while crops, markets, and land use changed.
o Overview
-> Migration and social hierarchies
-> Merchants and imperial power
-> Cultural persistence and adaptation
o Migration and social hierarchies
-> American epidemics reduced many Indigenous populations.
-> Conquest and labor demands worsened demographic disruption.
-> Forced African migration reshaped colonial workforces.
-> Slaving split families and changed some African gender roles.
-> American casta rankings linked ancestry to colonial privilege.
-> Patriarchy and elite power persisted within new categories.
o Merchants and imperial power
-> Rulers had long taxed trade to support armies and courts.
-> Maritime empires added colonial revenue and naval competition.
-> Chartered firms pooled capital and gained monopoly privileges.
-> Commercial fortunes created new merchant and planter elites.
-> Older nobles retained land and rank but faced stronger rulers.
-> Trade enriched states but also financed rivals and resistance.
o Cultural persistence and adaptation
-> Islam and Christianity continued to cross commercial networks.
-> Overseas missions expanded Christianity's reach after 1492.
-> Indigenous and African traditions endured colonial pressure.
-> Religious blending adapted old practices to new conditions.
-> Greater contact changed cultures without making them uniform.