Why were the raw resources of the New World so valuable to the European colonial empires?

This essay explores the significance of raw resources like timber and potatoes in the New World for European colonial empires. It discusses the impact of the Columbian Exchange on global trading empires and the spread of new crops and livestock. The essay also highlights the importance of timber and potatoes in the European food habits and construction industry.

SOC 222
Final Research Paper: Essay Draft
SOJIN PARK (190232173)
Option 6. Why were the raw resources of the New World so valuable to the European
colonial empires? (timber, potatoes).
Introduction
Globalization has united people in one world. Today’s a great number of people
can experience many different cultures without much effort. The world will gradually
globalize more and more every day. Also, this means that globalization can be seen as an
inevitable. The globalization brings about the positive results such as a solution to the
jobless, new technology development, and the spread of education. Therefore, the
globalization has become a fact of life, and been taking one step further toward the positive
sides. Globalization like various products from other countries are bringing countries
together in ways never imagined before. In the past time, the first significant European
immigration wave, spanning the 16th to 18th centuries, consisted mostly of settlers from
the British Isles attracted by economic opportunity and religious freedom. These early
immigrants were a mix of well-to-do individuals and indentured servants. These settlers
might not have survived without the help of a friendly Indian. The Indians taught them how
to grow their plants such as maize, tobacco and potatoes. Moreover, the forests also
provided abundant materials such as timber for the construction of houses, furniture and
ships, and for export. For Europe, Asia, and Africa these crops — especially the starchy
plants — turbo-charged population growth. The diet of the poor improved, as did birth
rates. for better or worse, there was no turning back from the connection forged between
Europeans and the indigenous peoples of the Americas in the late 15th century. Goods,
crops, mineral wealth, words, and medicines flowed east into Europe while livestock,
humans, plants, ideas, and much more travelled west into the Americas. This flow and
counterflow is known as the Columbian Exchange. The first globalization in the world is
Columbus exchange and it has affected to the European colonial empires. The influx of
Europeans and Africans to the Americas that followed some resources arrival set in motion
a chain of events that changed the face of the entire world. Also, many of these changes
related to plants, including potatoes, maize, tobacco, cacao and rubber trees, crops
previously unknown to the rest of the world. Potato and timber are the most important
resources among others.
The Columbian Exchange is responsible for the widespread transfer of the raw
materials from the colonies of the European nations to the mainland of the colonizing
country. The majority of the items that were transferred with the help of the Columbian
Exchange were the various types of plants, animals, raw materials for food as well as the

other factors belonging to the technologies and the ideas that were used within their
colonies. This had commenced since the voyage of Christopher Columbus that had taken
place in the year 1492. This had led to the global exchange of the items thereby leading to
global trading empires that were built by the Europeans. The colonizers of the European
origin tended to establish colonies all over the world so that they might have enough land to
cultivate the materials that they found useful in the trade business. The exchanges at times
involved newer crops that were capable of growing in the poor conditions. This helped the
Europeans by providing them with a new source of food that would help them survive the
droughts and other such conditions of natural calamities. The Europeans were also known
for the exchange of the livestock which made their life easier in the farms as well as helped
in the maintenance as well as the clearance of the land easier. The exchange policies also
involved the spread of the diseases all over the world which in turn helped the Europeans
wreak havoc on the native populations of the concerned areas which in turn eased out the
conquests of European colonizers.
The major products that were traded from the Americans were the products like
timber and fur. The acquiring of these products helped the Europeans in their further gains.
The major uses of the timber were found in the construction of the various means of
transport mainly the ships, the construction of the residences of the Europeans like the
fences, the houses and the other structures that were found in the urban areas. This was due
to the non-invention of steel at the given point of time. The timber also found use in a
majority of the uses and was the most used product of the time after the stone usage. The
timber was used in the formation of the various farm implements, furniture, wagons,
weapons and other such materials. The wood that was acquired by the Europeans were also
used as the fuel that was required for the purpose of heating things as well as cooking. The
South American forests were known to have been a rich source of timber. The forests
located in the European nations were wearing away due to huge collections of wood from
those forests. Thus, the people who have been colonizing the area were known to have been
in need of the timber from the given areas of colonization, especially the South American
areas.
The other major raw material that was imported by the European colonizers
referred to the potatoes. The potatoes are generally categorized on the basis of the fact that
these are able to grow even in the harder weather conditions and with a very low amount of
care. This made the potatoes to have the ability to meet the hunger demands of the residents
of the European countries. Thus, potato became one of the staple foods in the European
household. The trade exchanges carried out by the European colonizers at times involved
newer crops that were capable of growing in the poor conditions. This helped the
Europeans by providing them with a new source of food that would help them survive the
droughts and other such conditions of natural calamities. The potatoes are also known to be
rich in the nutrient values which helped the crop to become one of the major essential foods
for the Europeans. The potatoes, along with the various other cereals were known to have
been grown in huge farms which led to the high yields of the crop. This crop has been
known to acquire a permanent place in the European household due to being a source of
high nutrition for the consumer of the concerned crop, potato in this case.

Thus, from the above discussion, it might be inferred that the colonizers of the
European origin tended to establish colonies all over the world so that they might have
enough land to cultivate the materials that they found useful in the trade business. The
exchanges at times involved newer crops that were capable of growing in the poor
conditions. The Columbian Exchange is considered to have been responsible for the
widespread transfer of the raw materials from the colonies of the European nations to the
mainland of the colonizing country. The major uses of the timber were found in the
construction of the various means of transport mainly the ships, the construction of the
residences of the Europeans like the fences, the houses and the other structures that were
found in the urban areas. This was due to the non-invention of steel at the given point of
time. The timber also found use in a majority of the uses and was the most used product of
the time after the stone usage. In a similar manner the potatoes acquired a place in the
European food habits due to the high shelf-life of the vegetable. Thus, the timber and the
potatoes seem to hold a huge importance among the European colonizers.