1. What technologies did Western European states develop or borrow to enable ocean travel?

2. What was the Columbian Exchange and what were its major effects on both hemispheres?

3. What was the Atlantic System and which regions were connected through it?

1. How did European maritime trading empires affect existing merchant networks in Africa and Asia?

2. How did the discovery of silver in the Americas affect global trade patterns?

3. How did mercantilism differ from capitalism, and why did capitalism eventually become the predominant economic system?

1. What positive economic effects resulted from the new global flow of goods and profits?

2. How did the influx of gold and silver from the Americas negatively affect European and Asian economies?

3. How did increased merchant wealth influence the patronage of arts and architecture during this period?

1. How did the Atlantic slave trade affect African demographics and population?

2. What coerced labor systems developed in the Americas, and how did they differ from traditional systems like serfdom?

3. How did the coexistence of Europeans, Africans, and Native Americans create new social structures in the Americas?

1. What was the Black Legend and what factors contributed to its development?

2. How did religious conflict between Protestants and Catholics influence the acceptance of the Black Legend?

1. What was the White Legend and why did Spanish historians develop it?

2. How did Lewis Hanke's argument about Spanish reformers challenge the Black Legend?

3. What conclusion have modern historians reached when comparing Spanish colonialism to other European colonial practices?