But America was much more than a treasury of the precious
metals. Many commodities, hitherto unknown, soon found their way from the New
World to the Old. Among these were maize, the potato, which, when cultivated in
Europe, became the "bread of the poor," chocolate and cocoa made from
the seeds of the cacao tree, Peruvian bark, or quinine, so useful in malarial
fevers, cochineal, the dye-woods of Brazil, and the mahogany of the West Indies.
America also sent large supplies of cane-sugar, molasses, fish, whale-oil, and
furs. The use of tobacco, which Columbus first observed among the Indians,
spread rapidly over Europe and thence extended to the rest of the world. All
these new American products became common articles of consumption and so raised
the standard of living in European countries.
POLITICAL EFFECTS OF THE DISCOVERIES
To the economic effects of the discoveries must be added
their effects on politics. The Atlantic Ocean now formed, not only the
commercial, but also the political center of the world. The Atlantic-facing
countries, first Portugal and Spain, then Holland, France, and England, became
the great powers of Europe. Their trade rivalries and contests for colonial
possessions have been potent causes of European wars for the last four hundred
years.
