We as a world together have gone through many changes and made much progress over the last two centuries. Many have discussed the consequences of European expansion in the Americas. Some believe that Europeans had both a positive and negative impact on the expansion; however, the negative impact yielded a devastating result, which would continue to change history for nearly four hundred years. Europeans were manipulative towards the indigenous populations of the Americas. They exploited them, using them as personal slaves. More importantly, they silently killed the natives by introducing them to diseases such as measles and smallpox. As a result, a smallpox epidemic was caused, resulting in the deaths of at least ten million natives. This exploitation and introduction of these diseases to these people occurred through the "triangular trade". The "triangular trade" is a historical term that refers to 18th-century trade between South America, New England, and the west coast of Africa. The goods in question were different, but mainly they were sugar, rum and slaves. Trade brought much wealth to North America, and profits eventually became the foundation of American capitalism. Sugar has become an important commodity to satisfy Europeans' growing demand for drinking tea, coffee and cocoa. So sugar was the first foundation on which capitalism began to develop. South American and Caribbean sugar was also distilled into rum in New England, which was then traded in Africa for slaves owned by other Africans, and finally West African slaves were traded for sugar in South America. This forms a triangle on the map, hence the term "Triangular Trade". New England slave ships... middle of paper... As the English increased their control over Chinese trade, reformers recognized the need to adopt Western methods and implemented a self-strengthening movement. Although the movement had limited success, China eventually modernized, expanding economically, improving its military, implementing Western forms of government, and developing a sense of nationalism. Although British control over China was for Britain's economic gain, the introduction of Western customs still brought great benefits to China and gave rise to the Chinese Republic. The last few centuries don't seem to be going well for me. It seems like every country is simply power hungry and selfish. All these stronger countries taking control over weaker ones are wrong in my eyes. Instead of attacking a country for its own sake and means of income, we should help each other survive, not kill each other.