1492–1770 · Americas · Empire
Atlantic voyages connected Europe, Africa and the Americas permanently, followed by Iberian and later European conquest, settlement, missionary activity and resource extraction.
Atlas dossier · Early Modern WorldFree device narration · synchronized English captions · transcript available
Why it matters
Atlantic voyages connected Europe, Africa and the Americas permanently, followed by Iberian and later European conquest, settlement, missionary activity and resource extraction.
Indigenous nations · Columbus · Taíno communities · conquistadors · African captives · settlers
The encounters produced global exchange and new societies but also epidemic collapse, dispossession, forced labor and the destruction of Indigenous polities.
Interpretation note
This dossier distinguishes the event’s basic chronology from later arguments about meaning, responsibility and legacy. When comparing religious, national, Indigenous or scholarly interpretations, consult the primary and institutional sources above alongside peer-reviewed historical work.
Elsewhere in the world
1492–1700 · GlobalColumbian Exchange and Indigenous catastropheAtlantic crossings moved crops, animals, pathogens and people between hemispheres while conquest, disease and forced labour devastated Indigenous societies.
1517–1648 · EuropeReformation and confessional conflictReform movements challenged church authority, doctrine and practice; Catholic renewal and state conflict produced new churches and devastating wars.
1526–1857 · AsiaMughal IndiaMughal rulers governed much of South Asia through negotiated sovereignty, taxation and military power while court culture supported major architecture, painting and literature.