“life changed dramatically and forever after 1492 for both the new world and the old world. some of these changes were good, and some were bad.” explain the meaning of the quotation.

The quotation refers to the year 1492, which is the year that Christopher Columbus discovered America and landed in what is today the Dominican Republic and Haiti. The New World refers to the Americas and the Old World is Europe. It means that there were advantages and disadvantages to colonialization for both sides.

Explanation:

For the Americas (New World) I think there were less advantages and the Conquest brought a lot of violence and exploitation upon them. Some indigenous brokers however were able to benefit personally from negotiating and doing buisness with the Spanish and retained some influence and power and to have land and even slaves assigned to them. These local indigenous power brokers would also exploit the local people themselves. You could say the Spanish brought the people being colonized new knowledge of farming techniques and equipment that might improve their yields. Another advantage perhaps was the introduction of draft animals like horses and donkeys.

The disadvantages for the New World inhabitants are many. The Europeans brought diseases with them that New World peoples had little natural defenses for like smallpox for example. The colonizers destroyed entire civilizations in Peru and Mexico. Many native people were forced to move and adapt to the new system and to work to pay tribute to the Spanish encomiendas in the early years of the colonies.

For the Old World, the advantages were copious amounts of silver and gold. There were also certain foods that were not available in Europe, like the potato, tomatoes, chocolate, and vanilla.  The Europeans gained vast territories and could collect tribute in addition to the gold and silver from the mines. The Spanish Crown grew much richer for having discovered the Americas.

The disadvantages for the Spanish Crown is that administrating the native communities caused many ethical dilemmas and the men from Spain who helped in the Conquest wanted something in return. This is what led to the encomienda system in the early colonial period where the men who led the expeditions and participated in the Conquest were given lands and groups of workers among the native populations from whom they could exact tribute. But there were abuses and these injustices were brought to the Spanish crown from priests and other spokespersons and thus the Spanish Crown had to mitigate such dilemmas.

raliegh, north ! hope this